


All That You Are

by shannyfish



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Arrow (TV 2012), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Future, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Arrow meets Marvel Universe, Central City, Crossover, Dark, Doctor Who References, End of the World, Established Relationship, F/M, FitzSimmons - Freeform, Flash Mention, Gen, Heavy Angst, It's All Connected, Letters, Lockets, Marvel Universe, Pepperony - Freeform, Pictures, Post-everything, SHIELD, Starling City, Team TARDIS, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 00:01:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 70,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2045214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shannyfish/pseuds/shannyfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This isn’t the world I was born into.  This isn’t the world that my children were born into.  This isn’t the future that any of us had seen coming or had planned on living through.  It’s dark and full of despair.  It’s hard to keep living and today, like so many days before, I’ve found it hard to keep going.“</p><p>The future is dark, grim, and in ruin.  Felicity is trying to find a glimmer of hope in it all in order to keep going.  To believe that everything is not lost and that all of their suffering wasn't for nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [serenitymeimei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenitymeimei/gifts).



> Thanks to serenitymeimei for finding my errors and assuring me that this isn't screwed up after I re-wrote this prologue chapter. :)
> 
> This prologue and then the epilogue will be 1st person. All of the rest will be 3rd person past tense, like every other story I normally do. I probably shouldn't be starting this right now because it's going to be LONG (like "In Truth"...and I haven't even finished that one yet!). It was in my brain, though, so I had to get it out. 
> 
> Also, I'll be updating the tags and characters as we go along...
> 
> Hopefully you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poster kindly made by cherrychapssstick (Tumblr) :)

 

_“I love you_   
_For all that you are_   
_All that you have been_   
_And all that you will be.”_   
_~ Anonymous_

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**2030 – Starling City**

 

“This isn’t the world I was born into. This isn’t the world that my children were born into. This isn’t the future that any of us had seen coming or had planned on living through. It’s dark and full of despair. It’s hard to keep living and today, like so many days before, I’ve found it hard to keep going.“

As I stare out at the city, I keep wondering why we’re pushing forward. I can see the remains of all of the skyscrapers that were once large companies. I used to work in one of them. I can easily identify most of them, but Queen Consolidated, Starling National Bank, and the building that was once Merlyn Global stick out to me. The buildings were once more than shattered glass and steel. Sometimes I miss that. It makes me sick to just stare at Starling City around me in ruins.

No one lives here anymore.

I used to be an executive assistant to the CEO of Queen Consolidated. I hated it at first and now that seems so stupid because I would give anything to go back to that time. I would happily sit at my desk and make online reservations for the boss, who could easily do them from his desk with his computer. I would happily do everything for him…I would even bring him coffee everyday as many times a day as he needed…and even for the board meetings.

If only I could turn back the clock and make the world right again.

Life wasn’t about daily survival, at least not in the way it is now. At least not in a way that wasn’t voluntary. Sometimes I would offer to be bait during an Arrow mission, but that was something I did willingly. In this chaotic world I’m not safe. I run for my life and I hide in the shadows.

“You know way back in two thousand and thirteen, we thought that the world wouldn’t be the same. There was this thing…called the Undertaking. It destroyed half of the Glades and nobody really wanted to rebuild it afterwards. Five hundred and three people died… That seemed like so many deaths. A year later, Slade Wilson built a Mirakuru army and tried to set this city on fire… I honestly thought that was the end… I didn’t think that I was going to live past those days…”

I brought my hand up to cover my mouth as I thought about it, my head slightly bowed. “And yet Starling City stood… The Arrow was our hero, like a guardian angel…but not even he could protect us for what happened. I still can’t believe how many people died… They took people into the streets and killed them…”

Tears fell from my eyes and I shook my head as my eyes squeezed shut at the memories. Horrible, horrible memories that are etched into my mind and I just wish I could forget. It might be easier to live in this world if I didn’t have to think about all of those horrible, dark, dark days… The days that I wish never were.

“The only reason that all of those people…and all of the people everywhere have died is because of fear,” I said as I turned around. I opened my eyes and turned around. The woman standing there was older than I was and I’ve just met her, but I feel like I can trust her. I HAVE to trust her. She’s the only hope I have right now. “Fear has gotten us to this point. It turned the world hateful and dark…it sucked every last drop of happiness from our world…from our lives…”

I paused for a moment as I thought about my words. They were all true, but I wonder how this other woman is taking them. Does she believe me? Will she trust me? Will she HELP me? Will she help ALL of us? I don’t know if I can wake up tomorrow knowing that the world looks like this still.

“It’s stupid really,” I told her as I tried to keep more tears back. “This whole thing started because ONE person didn’t understand…and didn’t have the ability to look at the world in an open minded manner. That’s WHY the world changed. This one man. An anthropologist. How could he have so much influence? How could he not see the beauty in everything that he ended up destroying?” The tears came anyways, but I pushed forward.

“Do you remember his name?” the woman asks for the first time.

“Doctor Bolivar Trask,” I tell her. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know his name… I think everyone knows the story.”

“They probably don’t know the whole story,” she tells me.

“No one ever does,” I whisper. “I know that he thought that his invention would save humanity… The problem with it was that he damned us all… His invention and their guidelines just changed and changed and soon enough…they weren’t detaining people that were a danger as they saw to the population…they were killing every single person that MIGHT be a danger to those in charge. They killed children in the street for being out past curfew…”

It was quiet between the two of them as I wipe tears away from my eyes once again. I don’t know how not to be emotional. I’ve tried. I know that it would be easier to turn cold and unemotional like others I’ve seen, but no matter how I try…I can’t be that person. This woman, she seems to have her emotions under check. She looks so perfect against the chaos. Her dark hair is pulled back and neat, unlike her hair that even though it’s pull back into a ponytail I know that it’s messy. Her clothes are clean and neat and mine are whatever I could find that seemed clean enough as I tried to get out before anyone could notice that I was leaving. The metallic logo on the shoulder of her jacket shone in the light. It was some kind of cropped bird and I keep thinking an eagle in the circular logo.

“Why did you think that I could help you?”

“People say that you’re who I need to contact in order to talk to the person who might be able to help us prevent all of this,” I explain honestly.

“Who do you think can do that?”

“His name is whispered everywhere. That he has a team. That his inventions and innovations were always ahead of everything else,” I tell her. I’m quiet before finally saying his name. “Tony Stark.”

“Tony Stark and his family are all dead.”

“Aren’t we ALL dead?” I ask. This seems to have amused the woman. I don’ t understand, but I let out a sigh. I have no idea if she’s just testing me or if she’s telling the truth.

“I’ll be in touch.”

“How?” I ask. Before, everyone could be easily kept in touch with when there were cell phones and e-mail. Now none of them used that. She ran her fingers from her right hand along the inside of her upper left arm unconsciously where the scar removing the chip they’d implanted in her had once been. It still creeped her out.

She was a fugitive.

Her home was a place that they liked to think that no one could find.

“I’ll find you,” the woman told her as she turns her back to me.

I suck in a breath and hope that my wait won’t be long. I hope that Tony Stark is alive and hiding. There were other people that they’d heard at one time or another was dead and then there had been reports that that person was actually alive. “Can I ask you your name?”

She laughed and looked over her shoulder. “I guess it doesn’t matter if you know it or not. We’re all dead already, right?” There was a brief moment of silence before she continued. “Maria Hill, Ms. Queen. I WILL be in touch.”

“Thank you,” I whisper and for the first time in so long I allow myself a small smile as Maria Hill disappears.

A loud humming sound suddenly hits my ears and I know that it’s time for me to disappear as well. I know that I shouldn’t be out on the streets, especially not on a rooftop and especially not in Starling City proper. Sometimes I just like to go there, though, and remember the way things used to be. It’s normally hard, but I have so many good memories from years before.

“Time to get home and face the million questions,” I mutter before making myself disappear.

The sentinels were coming.

I wouldn’t let them take me again.

I might actually have something to live for again…

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	2. In The Streets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might need tissues... I warned you.
> 
>  
> 
> Poster kindly made by cherrychapssstick (Tumblr) :)

 

 

**2030 – Starling City**

 

The buzz was so loud that she could almost feel the vibrations from it as she ran through the streets. She knew that she shouldn't be out. Felicity hardly ever came out unless it was night and even then...she was never alone and she was never unarmed like she was today. She'd created a device that would actually short circuit the sentinels just once and only for a few seconds, but it had been too bulky to bring along and she hadn't wanted to look like she was carrying a weapon. Right now, she wished she'd brought it along.

Felicity knew that she had to be careful, though. She couldn’t lead them back home. She actually couldn’t lead them anywhere NEAR where home was. It was too risky. Her heart was pounding and she was trying to think of where she could hide for the night. There had been a few other times where she’d been out in the city or elsewhere with sentinels roaming that meant that she had to find a spot to stay for the night, all of those times…Oliver had been with her. Oliver wasn’t with her right now and she wondered if she’d pretty much committed suicide leaving the safety of the Foundry during the day.

It was getting late, but it wouldn’t be dark soon enough. Even IF she’d been noticed missing and Oliver came out looking for her, it would be too dangerous. She didn’t want him to be put at risk because she had to go out and try to meet with Maria Hill about Tony Stark. Felicity hadn’t even talked to Oliver about it. What Oliver would say was something that she could easily put together.

It’s too risky.

He’s probably dead.

If he’s not dead, then he’s too damn far away for either group to travel to the other without being caught.

Risk. Risk. Risk.

Death.

Ducking into a home that had been destroyed in the undertaking, Felicity ducked down and under some rubble. She knew that she wouldn’t be safe here. The sentinels could easily scan the area, but she just wanted to wait and rest for a few minutes before she moved on. The building was on the border of Starling City proper and the Glades, which just might work for Felicity’s plan. One way that they’d been able to hide from the sentinels was by using the old underground lines. There was one that Felicity really didn’t want to use, but it seemed like the safest bet. The entrance to the underground line wasn’t far from where she was and once she was inside, she knew the way that led to the underground sewer system, which would be even more insulated in order to protect her from being scanned. It was why the Foundry had been kept safe. It was shielded.

Felicity could hear the sentinels and she wasn’t thrilled with how close they were. She knew that she’d have to run for it and just hoped that she was fast enough. The sentinels rarely attempted to follow into the underground lines, but it still worried her. She knew that as far as the sentinels were concerned that there were no guarantees. One of them could receive an order to start to demolish that area for all she knew. She had to try something though.

“I’m sorry, Oliver,” she whispered to herself as she got up to a crouched position. Felicity peered out from her hiding place, sucked in a deep breath, and then took off in the direction of the underground line. She and Oliver had been married for twelve years and this was going to be the first time that it was HER fault that they wouldn’t be together since the world had gone to hell.

Nearly to the entrance, Felicity was starting to feel like the day was going to be less eventful than she thought, that was until a sentinel appeared out of nowhere. A scream escaped from her lips as she started to backpedal. She ended up on the ground, staring up at the hulking sentinel looming over her.

“Surrender!” the sentinel’s computerized voice commanded. “This area is restricted!”

“I must have made a wrong turn,” Felicity lied weakly as she struggled to get to her feet. “Please! I’ll leave the area immediately!” She knew that begging wouldn’t get her anywhere, but at the same time she knew that she had to try. The entrance to the underground line was SO close and she didn’t want to be detained or just shot there in the middle of the street.

“Vocal patterns indicate: Felicity Meghan Smoak Queen,” the sentinel spout off like a switch had been switched automatically. “Facial match in progress to confirm. Do not move during the process.”

Normal people had to be terrified of the gigantically oversized robots, but Felicity knew that they weren’t all powerful. Her flight or fight responses were really kicking in, this wasn’t a time to fight. Felicity knew that. The sound of additional sentinels were getting far too close for her comfort. If she didn’t take a chance now, she was definitely going to be killed or detained. Detained was worse than being killed in the streets. She wouldn’t do that again.

Memories kicked to the surface and tears sprung free as she pushed herself in the direction of the underground line. She tried to push the memories back, but the sounds of children screaming filled her memory and her chest ached as she pushed herself along. Felicity let a sob escape her lips as her hand hit the stair rail as she hurried down the stairs and into where the underground line was. She didn’t slow her pace once she was there, not knowing what the sentinel would do. Their awful buzz was so loud even once she hit the bottom of the stairs.

Turning left, Felicity only took a moment to let out a weak scream as the memory continued to haunt her. Wiping her face, she hurried towards where the tracks where. Pushing herself to the edge of the tracks, Felicity looked right and left out of habit, before jumping down in front of the stopped train and headed into the dark tunnel.

“Crap,” she mumbled as she realized that she was possibly screwed without a source of light to make sure she found the correct crevice to crawl into. Felicity moved to the right far brick wall, put her hand on it, and started to walk into the darkness. Dust fell from the ceiling above her as the sentinels stomped around above; she pushed it away and just closed her eyes. “Focus, Felicity…” she whispered to herself.

The tunnel filled with Felicity’s humming of a lullaby to try to force herself to focus and concentrate on what she was doing. The feel of the bricks under her hand as she walked deeper into the tunnel. Felicity couldn’t remember how many steps it was into the tunnel, but she knew that she could find it if she just concentrated.

Eventually, she found it and safely tucked herself into the crevice. Felicity shimmed her body through a very tight opening. She had to pretty much have no breath as she did it, but sucked in stale air as soon as she made it through to an open space. Felicity collapsed immediately and just breathed.

“Keep going,” she whispered to herself.

Felicity was catching her breath as she lay sprawled on the floor. Her eyes were closed and she felt like sleeping, but she knew that she couldn’t stay there. Eventually, someone might find her there, but it wouldn’t be soon enough. Oliver, she reminded herself.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“Felicity!”

His voice was music to her ears as she entered the shielded sanctuary of the Foundry. She was already searching for his face when she heard his voice. The place seemed even more packed with people than it had been when she’d snuck out. She didn’t know how that was possible OR how they were going to make it through the next week without being found by the sentinels.

“Oliver!” she exclaimed as she flung herself at him, her arms tightening around him. Felicity squeezed him and she buried her face into his shoulder.

“Where have you been?!”

“Oliver, I—“

“Leo saw you! He said that a sentinel HAD you! I was so worried!” Oliver told her as he held her at arm’s length.

“If a sentinel had captured me…I certainly wouldn’t be here,” Felicity told him, but couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

“She could be working for them!” someone shouted.

Felicity looked worriedly about. She missed Diggle. At least when he was still there, he was always so good at keeping things under control. Nothing ever got out of control and no one ever challenged their loyalty.

“No!” Oliver shouted. “If you think that, you’re crazy!” He was looking at everyone around them and was obviously angry with them. They didn’t linger in the ‘common area’; Oliver guided her back to ‘their’ room. They were the only ones that had their own enclosed space that was only theirs. Their room was about the size of a broom closet, but that was luxury compared to how everyone else was living.

The door closed once they were both in and Oliver had his hands all over her, searching her body. “I’m fine,” she whispered, but that didn’t stop him. There had been numerous times over the course of their marriage (and even before) where they’ve said they were fine and that hadn’t been the full exact truth. So, she didn’t expect anything different.

Finally, when he was truly satisfied that she wasn’t bleeding and nothing was broken, he framed her face with his hands and kissed her. She could feel his tears hit her face and she joined him. It was so hard for them to be together it seemed without tears nowadays…

“I thought I’d lost you…” he whispered after a moment. “That I was alone…” His voice broke and he just sounded so hopeless.

“I always come back,” she reminded, her voice just as quiet as his as she stared at him.

Oliver tugged at a chain around his neck until it was fully removed from where it had been hidden under his shirt. On the chain were their wedding rings, he held them up. “PLEASE…wear it…”

“You know I can’t…”

“We’re still married…”

“We are,” she confirmed and leaned in and kissed him. Felicity took the handful of chain and rings from him and stuffed it back into his shirt. She pushed him a little until his back was against the wall, her hands moving to find the hem of his shirt. Felicity’s hands pushed up under it and ran one hand up his spine while the other moved up the skin of his side.

“Felicity…” he whispered against his lips.

“I love you,” Felicity reminded him.

This was always how it was.

Everything in their life wasn’t how it SHOULD be and she never wanted to talk about any of it. Oliver was the last thing that kept her from committing suicide in one way or another; in this world…there were countless ways to do that on a daily basis where it would easily look like an accident. He NEEDED her and Felicity wasn’t going to leave him in that hell of a world all alone. She’d never do that. So, she’d do anything to avoid the truth of the world they lived in…

“I love you,” he echoed as he stared at her. Oliver’s fingers ran through her hair and he just stared at her. “I’m tired…”

Silence.

It took her a moment to ensure that she’d be composed for the reply. So many things had happened over the last fifteen years, but it seemed like even more had happened in the last two. They both had felt the crushing weight of the world and she wasn’t surprised that it was too much… She just didn’t want to wake up…except to escape the nightmares.

Felicity nodded for a moment. “I know,” she whispered and leaned in to kiss him. Felicity moved back to stare into his eyes once again. “So am I…but Oliver, I’m not going to just disappear and leave you here alone…”

They were both quiet for what stretched on for several minutes.

“Do you remember when we used to sleep in my apartment?” she asked. Felicity hated it when their moments were so sad and filled with despair. She smiled at the memory of it. That was all that life was now…memories strung together that either made her happy or suicidal. “You used to make fun of my pajama bottoms…”

For the first time in months, he smiled. Oh how she missed that smile… She had started to think that she’d never see it again. Felicity went on in hopes that they’d make it one more day…and Maria Hill would find her and tell her something that would change their lives for the better. “You would always say—“

“You don’t need the pajamas…” Oliver finished.

Felicity beamed a bit. “Or anything else…”

“I can’t help it… You are the most beautiful woman in this world…” Oliver told her. “You have never needed the make-up, the hours doing your hair, fancy clothes, or sexy lingerie… YOU are beautiful…and it’s always shone through.”

She kissed him again. “Can you make me forget earlier?” she whispered against his lips.

“I can try…”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	3. In the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Required items when reading this chapter because of deaths, angst, and heavy feels: Tissues, Ice Cream, Wine, and Chocolate. 
> 
> Just got back from family camping (OMG I AM SO NOT A CAMPING IN A TENT PERSON...especially when it involves crazy weather and tents leaking). I wrote almost the entirety of this chapter in my composition notebook during the trip. Had hoped to write a couple of other chapters of things too, but this was all I got to. Hopefully everyone enjoys and doesn't hate me after this chapter.

 

 

**Starling City 2022**

 

Sometimes it was hard for them to balance having a normal life. The world knew what they did at night plus they still ran Queen Consolidated during the day. It was quite a busy life, especially with a family. Today was a day with time that they’d purposely carved out.

“I want to play! I want to play!” Tommy yelled as he followed after Andy as he kicked around a soccer ball.

It was certainly a very normal thing for most people to have a family picnic at the park, but it was something special for them to feel so normal. They had blankets laid out on the grass and had brought lunch. It was simple, but it would be a day to remember.

Felicity held her daughter in her arms as she watched the boys playing. “Where’s Lyla?” she asked as soon as Diggle settled down on the blanket.

“Miserable at home on bed rest,” he told her. “Andy’s been going a little crazy being stuck home with her all the time. Makes me wonder if home schooling the boys is really the right choice.”

Felicity watched them play. It was hard for them to be their kids. They weren’t exactly celebrities, but everyone knew who they were. When Andy started school, kids were either his best friend or they’d beat him up because of his dad worked with Team Arrow. It just wasn’t safe for their kids.

“You know that I would be more than happy to tutor him in the evenings,” Felicity told him.

“I might just have to take you up on that offer.”

“Daddy!”

Felicity’s head turned to see Oliver picking up Tommy and hugging him before taking an arm and pulling Andy into a hug too. Oliver was dressed in a suit and was obviously late because he’d gone into Queen Consolidated. Felicity knew that it was hard for Oliver to stay still or sleep. After a minute with the boys, he moved towards them. He discarded the jacket, the tie came next, and then he unbuttoned the top few buttons. Oliver sat down and leaned in to kiss her.

“How are my girls?” Oliver asked. He kissed Felicity again before pressing a kiss to their daughter’s forehead.

“Better now that you are here,” she told him. “I thought you were going to take the day off?”

“I went to see their new sentinel designs,” Oliver explained. “They want—“

“No,” Felicity said firmly.

Since the sentinels had been invented, the world had changed. At first, they only went after mutants…the dangerous ones. Pretty soon, the government decided that every mutant was a threat and needed to be detained. Eventually they released those who they deemed to be innocent mutant citizens, but enforced a new law. All mutants, heroes, or anyone else that worked in concert with them had to be registered with the government.

All three of them were registered with the government and their children were also listed. It was supposed to ‘protect’ them, but Felicity had always felt like it was there to hurt them. The government had pretty much everything that could identify them for any reason: photos, fingerprints, blood types, DNA, and voice samplings.

Felicity wanted absolutely NO connection if they could get away with it. Things had to been good and she wanted it to stay that way. All she wanted was for the government to leave them alone and for her kids to be safe. Felicity wanted their kids to continue to be kids, even if they were a bit sheltered from the world. She’d rather shelter her four-year-old little boy, Thomas, and her four-month-old baby girl, Madelyn. She didn’t see any problem with that and she knew that Diggle had been battling over the same questions in regards to Andy now that he was eight.

“I HAD to go, Felicity,” Oliver told her gently. “Think about how it would look to the board if I rejected it without going?”

Diggle sighed. “I hate to say it, but he’s right.”

She stared down at her beautiful Madelyn in her arms. Felicity didn’t know if she was just hormonal, but she couldn’t even fathom working with the government…not after everything she’d heard. “No more talk about this,” she said calmly. “Today’s all about family time.” She bounced Madelyn for a moment before looking up at Oliver and Diggle.

“Do you think I could hold Maddie for a bit?” Oliver asked as he extended his arms towards her.

Felicity handed their daughter over to him. She watched them for a moment and couldn’t stop smiling. Being a dad was definitely something Oliver did the best.

“”We’re hungry,” Tommy complained as he and Andy ran back toward them.

She sighed. “I guess that’s my cue to make sandwiches…”

“My hands are full,” Oliver told her.

Felicity made a face at him and then turned to see Diggle eating chips. “Are you going to say that your hands are full, too?”

“I was going to point out that you always make them better,” Diggle admitted with a shrug and then shoved another chip into his mouth.

They were still impossible.

“Uncle Digg is right,” Tommy spoke up. “You DO make everything better than Daddy.”

“And MY MOM,” Andy spoke up.

“Go play for a few more minutes,” she told the boys. Once they were out of earshot, she turned back to Oliver and Diggle. “You have trained them well,” she commented as she started to pull out everything to make the sandwiches. The guys just laughed and Felicity just couldn’t manage to keep a smile off of her face.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**Starling City 2028**

 

They’d spent four years avoiding the government and the sentinels after they passed a law that made it legal for the government to arrest everyone on their mutant/hero/assistant list from 2020. That’s what the government wanted and they arrested those people the first chance they got after the bill passed.

They’d been lucky.

The Queen Family couldn’t go back to the mansion OR to the Foundry (or even the back-up one). So, they’d been living underground with a few other families since then. There were other cells in Starling City, but the one they’d been staying with had been the best fit for them.

“Sentinels!”

Felicity grabbed Madelyn and Oliver grabbed Tommy. They immediately disappeared into the shielded wall space and tried to stay quiet. Felicity and Oliver were facing each other with their children in their arms. They’d done drills like this, but she’d never thought they’d actually do it for real.

“Mommy?” Madelyn whispered. Her bright blue eyes looked up.

“Shh…” Felicity hushed and held Madelyn closer. Her daughter was six years old and had spent far too much of her life living in a hell that she thought was normal. The only time Madelyn had ever been on a swing or slide was when she was little and had a parent doing it with her.

It wasn’t right.

It wasn’t fair.

Felicity ran her fingers through her daughter’s blonde hair and thought about the conversation she was going to have with Oliver after this. She was going to tell him that they had to leave Starling City, IT needed to be in their past. There were rumors of a safe place…one where children could run on grass in the sun…where they could play without fear. They had to take the chance.

The sentinel was in the building now; their sound was something you got used to knowing their distance. This was the only reason why she was happy that they truly had nothing, nothing was left out to make it look like someone had been living there. The buzz vibrated the walls, the sentinels dispatched had to be different sizes, Felicity thought.

At first, the sentinels were all these massive robots that were taller than two story buildings. They became too destructive when they had to do more exact hunting and extraction. Whole buildings, homes, and other structures had been destroyed in the early days. They’d leveled whole cities and done far more destruction than Merlyn’s Undertaking. Now, they built smaller ones that still towered over people, but the gigantic ones were kept around to illicit fear and to be an ever-present reminder and presence.

Felicity knew that the larger ones were outside because it felt like an earthquake as they walked around. Madelyn gripped her tighter. She wished that her children could have been raised in the Queen Mansion with everything they could possibly need AND want. Felicity pressed a kiss to Madelyn’s forehead as they all held their breath. Her hand moved out and Oliver grasped hers.

The sound alarmed her as she tried to comprehend where the sound was coming from. Madelyn was the first thing Felicity checked. Before she could look over to Oliver and Tommy, screams echoed.

“No! Please! We have done nothing!”

The walls seemed to ramble as it sounded like the walls were being pulled apart. Felicity realized what the sound before had been, a child’s cry. It was like her brain was playing catch up with what had happened. She thought that the voice that had been pleading with the sentinel had been Blake Mohlmaster.

“Identities confirmed,” the sentinel’s digitalized voice boomed. “Blake Mohlmaster. Cora Mohlmaster. Emily Mohlmaster. You are confirmed enemies of the government. You will be detained. Do not resist.”

“Please! Let my wife and daughter go!” Blake begged. “It was MY crime!”

“Your crime becomes their crime. You know the law.”

“What if I have something to trade?” Blake questioned. “Information?”

“Processing request.”

Felicity looked across to Oliver. She was worried that he would reveal the position of everyone hiding in those walls. She understood his want to protect his family, but her kids… Madelyn and Tommy were on her mind. If only children and non-involved family members weren’t linked to their crimes…

It seemed to be quiet for so long. Felicity knew that there had been movement. She heard it, but it wasn’t enough for the room to be empty. She knew that it wasn’t safe yet. So, they just stayed still and waited.

“I was told that you might have information for me,” and unknown voice filled the silence.

“Will-will you let them go?” he stumbled the question.

“I MIGHT be willing to release them…if the information is good enough.”

“I-I-I know a location…of-of-of importance to the resistance.”

“There is NO resistance,” the man snapped. “Just misguided people.”

“Of-of course…”

“But you DO have my interest.”

“In-in Coast City,” Blake tried to push out coherently. “There’s a church there… Saint Isadore’s. That’s where we were to go. They erase people from your systems and give new identities. Once that’s done, they send you somewhere safe…”

The man laughed.

Felicity closed her eyes and focused on keeping calm. Coast City was supposed to be where they were going to be heading next. Oliver had finally agreed to let go of Starling City and for them to leave. Everyone else had. Sara had told them years before that they were welcome in Nanda Parbat with her. She’d come to Starling City and taken her family there to keep them safe. Felicity had tried to convince Oliver to agree to go to Nanda Parbat then, especially with Diggle, Lyla, and their boys under the rogue protection of ARGUS. Oliver had felt like Starling City still needed a hero, or at least that was what he told everyone else.

The truth was that he was afraid to leave.

One day, before Tommy was even born, Thea and Roy had just disappeared without a note or any kind of clue as to where they were or what had happened. It was all a mystery, still. They’d searched for them and even reported them as missing persons. They’d never been found and no clue had ever surfaced. Oliver didn’t want to leave Starling City for fear that Thea might return and he wouldn’t be there. At least if he was IN the city, then he’d likely see or hear something about her. Felicity was fairly sure that she was the only one who knew (though others likely suspected) the real truth as to why he’d insisted that they remain in Starling City all these years.

“The only SAFE place is where the government places you,” the man said.

“Please! I am only a man—“

“You broke the law! You assisted in keeping people like the Arrow and the Flash hidden from the government,” the man said. “You weren’t working DIRECTLY with those criminals, but you’re just as guilty.” The man paused. “But your wife and daughter ARE technically innocent since they had no direct involvement in your crimes.”

Felicity knew one thing for sure as far as people like the man who was talking to Blake was concerned: they always lied. She and Oliver had seen this before. They would offer to release the family members that hadn’t been involved, but then they’d shoot them. They’d remind the ‘criminal’ that they’d requested that they were released, which was precisely what they’d done. Released them from life. The speech would always be the same and Felicity felt like that was what was coming next.

“You want me to release them?” the man asked.

She wanted to shout ‘no’, but she kept silent.

“Please! Please!” Blake pleaded.

Felicity felt helpless, but life was different when you were a parent.

“The government will be willing to release them, but only if you promise to provide us with ANY and ALL information pertaining to the criminals you know and how they’ve managed to escape detection for this long.”

“I swear!” Blake said almost too quickly.

“Then release them,” the man instructed.

Her eyes met with Oliver’s as they both turned their children towards their chests and covered their ears to muffle the gunshots that came. It was difficult trying to shield their children from horrors like these. Even with the world that they lived in, they didn’t want their children to have to grow up too fast and have to face death directly. They were still so young! They still kept hoping that something would happen…laws would be changed and they could go back to their lives.

Two gunshots.

Blake’s screams felt like they were trapped in her ears. Tears fell from her face. No matter how many times people that they knew (and even others that they didn’t) were killed in this war, Felicity would always cry for them.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**Central City 2028**

 

They’d gotten to Central City and had thought they were safe for the first time since it all started. The sentinels came in the middle of the night and took every single person they declared a criminal. Felicity only felt lucky because they hadn’t separated them, which made things only SLIGHTLY less terrifying.

Being an adult and a parent meant that neither Oliver nor Felicity could really show their true emotions. They had to be strong for their kids. Felicity didn’t know what to think about what was going to happen. They both knew better than to ask for their children to be set free, plus even IF (and they knew that ‘if’ was impossible) they let them go, then whom would they be released to? Everyone they knew and trusted were deemed criminals by the government or dead…and Tommy and Madelyn were far too young to live on their own.

“What’s going to happen?” Madelyn asked. It was clear that she was terrified and Felicity hadn’t missed her trembling.

What WAS going to happen?

“Don’t worry, Sweetheart,” Oliver spoke up. He’d not only managed a quiet and calm tone, but also a smile. Felicity didn’t know how he did it so seemingly easily.

“WHY are you telling her that? We all know what happens,” Tommy spoke up angrily. “They’re going to want information and then they’ll kill us.”

“I’m NOT going to let that happen.”

Ten-year-old Tommy motioned around them. “We’re all in prison… You don’t have your bow, your arrows, or even your hood… HOW are you going to make it out of here?”

Before either of them could respond, the cell door opened and guards moved in to restrain her and Oliver as they hauled their children out of the cell. Oliver and Felicity’s screams, cries, and shoutings fell on deaf ears and joined in with other screams.

At first, they’d screamed and begged. Oliver had pounded on the door until his hands bled. Felicity had dragged him away and he’d ended up holding her as she cried.

Eventually, someone came. Felicity knew that no matter what was promised that they would be lies. The government didn’t believe in heroes anymore, just the sentinels. They didn’t care, they couldn’t not try.

Oliver and Felicity were led to another area of the facility. It was a room obviously for questioning with four chairs and a table in the middle. They sat down and Felicity was surprised that they were not handcuffed or restrained in some other way. The contingent of guards that had escorted them there though had been a clear indication that they knew what they (mainly Oliver) were capable of.

“We’ve been looking for you two for quite some time,” the man said. “I’m actually surprised that it took so long to find you. Traveling with two children must have been difficult… We’ve been pursuing you for what?” He paused. “About five years? Almost your daughter’s entire life…” He started to pace as he spoke. “I’m sure that you would both rather be back in Starling City raising your children in Queen Mansion. I’m sure we could find positions for both of you…”

“We’ve heard the lies before,” Oliver told him gruffly. “You can skip it.”

“You’ve never been brought in, Mr. Queen.”

“We’ve heard your people tell others,” Oliver replied through gritted teeth. It was clear that Oliver was angry and getting angrier every time that the man spoke. “We’ve watched as they’ve begged for their spouses and their children’s lives to be spared only to have them shot right in front of them!”

“That has been an unfortunate—“

“Unfortunate?!” Oliver exploded and got to his feet.

As okay as Felicity would be with Oliver beating the guy, she knew that the guards would burst in and it wouldn’t end well for Oliver. She reached up and grabbed his arm. “Oliver,” she whispered.

“Believe me, I understand WHY you’re upset,” he told them. He held up a hand. “Why don’t I show you some good faith? I’ll have your children brought here… I’ll leave the room and let you have ten minutes alone. Sound good? You can think about my offer then.”

“You weren’t…precise about the offer,” Oliver ground out.

“Do you really think that we’d killed the Arrow or the Oracle?” He paused for a moment. “It would look much better to the world and those hiding from us that they CAN still do the right thing.”

“You labeled us AND our children criminals,” Felicity reminded. “I thought we’d evolved beyond that kind of thing.”

“It’s all above my pay grade,” he told her. “All I’m trying to do is give your family a close to normal life back. You would both work for the government. Positions in your strengths are needed. You and your children would submit to having chips implanted once again.”

“And we’d be able to raise our children how we see fit?” Felicity questioned.

“They would be required to attend school—“

“We’ve always home schooled.”

“May I ask your reasoning behind that choice?” he asked.

Felicity almost wondered if it was worth it to entertain the conversation. “It’s not safe for them…”

“I ASSURE you, they would be safe,” he told her confidently. “How do we expect to raise world leaders if bullying is tolerated?”

“And where would we live?” Oliver asked.

“Your accounts and properties were frozen, Mr. Queen. It’s still YOURS, if you agree.” He paused and shrugged. “I assume Queen Mansion.”

“Pardoned? Just like that?”

Obviously Oliver thought it MIGHT be possible, but could they really live that lie of a life? Felicity just didn’t see either of them doing it, but then her thoughts turned to Tommy and Madelyn. When you were a parent (at least a good one) you did anything for your children.

“They’ll be a contract, of course. But yes, Mr. Queen, it can be as easy as signing your name.”

“You’ve certainly given us something to think about,” Oliver told him and Felicity could tell that he was trying to contain his emotions.

“Good! You know what? I’m going to have legal write up those forms right now,” he told them. “I’ll have the children brought in, I’ll bring in the contracts, and then we’ll just have a few questions for both of you.”

Questions…

“What kind of questions?”

“Simple ones. Where you’ve stayed these last few years. Who has helped you. Any information about the steps after Central City.”

They wanted names and locations of innocent people. They wanted them to not only be their poster family for reform, but to also turn on everyone they knew. How could they do that? How could they be expected to?

The man left and a few minutes later their children were returned to them. Felicity didn’t think she’d hugged either of them so tightly before or been so relieved to see them.

“Did they hurt you?”

“Are you alright?”

Felicity cupped Tommy’s face in her hands, as she looked him over. Even at ten years old, he tried so hard to be grown up and strong, but she knew that he was breaking apart inside. “Are you okay?” she asked again.

Slowly, he swallowed and then nodded his head. “There were a lot of kids…”

“How many?” Oliver asked and Felicity knew it was out of habit.

“A little more than twenty,” Tommy replied.

Felicity looked over to Oliver as she held onto Tommy. This was beyond serious and they needed to know what they were going to do. She didn’t want to sell out people or give away safe locations or even work for the government, but these were their children’s lives…

Felicity had her arm wrapped around Tommy while Madelyn sat on her lap, her other arm kept her daughter in place. Oliver was standing between them and the door when the man and his contingent of armed guards returned to the room. The tension was higher now and she didn’t know what they were going to do. How were they going to get out of this? How were they going to keep their kids safe? WAS there a way out?

“We’ll sign your contracts… We’ll answer your questions,” Oliver spoke up before she could really process how big of a decision it was. They hadn’t been able to really discuss it, but they were in this together no matter what. They were a team and they both wanted what was best for their children, right now that meant living.

“What contracts? What questions? What are you doing?” Tommy started to burst with questions.

He didn’t understand. Neither of them would at ten and six. They might not even understand when they were older…not until they had kids of their own would they understand that you did anything and everything to keep your children safe. In this world, that was hard and sacrifices had to be made.

“Sometimes you have to do the unthinkable,” Oliver turned to speak to Tommy. “You’ll understand when you’re older.” He was calm and almost businesslike. Felicity knew that this was the hardest thing that they had to do, to basically give up and to sign their lives away to the government that had taken everything normal and right away from them.

“Unthinkable?! What’s that supposed to mean?” Tommy exploded and pulled away from Felicity.

“Tommy!” she shouted and reached out to grab his arm. He got too far from her. She was getting up from her chair in order to retrieve him, but everything happened too fast… Before she could even take another breath, he was lying on the floor bleeding. “No!” she screamed. Felicity held tight to Madelyn as she moved to her son’s side. She crouched on the floor and pulled him up into her lap. Oliver was right across from her and seemed unable to touch him.

“Mo-mom…” Tommy gasped and coughed up blood.

Her son had been stabbed in the chest by one of the guards because he did what she and Oliver were too scared to do, to resist in that situation. He was far too young. She knew that the government man had ordered for a medic, but Felicity feared that they wouldn’t come soon enough. Tears rained down from her eyes as she pushed his hair away from his face. “I’m here, Tommy… It’s going to be okay… They’re getting a doctor…”

“Don’t do it…”

“Shh…” she hushed and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “You just rest…you’re going to be okay…” It was like he had been taken right in front of her. He was breathing one minute, staring up at her, whispering ‘Mom’, and the next… Felicity shook him and shouted his name.

He didn’t move.

He didn’t respond.

His lifeless eyes just stared up at her.

“Someone do something!” Felicity shouted.

Tommy was dead.

Her son was gone.

He’d died in her arms.

He’d been murdered because he was a boy and was upset.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

Felicity unconsciously rocked herself as she pulled Madelyn close, while Tommy was still in her lap. She let out a scream before sobs bubbled to the surface. It wasn’t until the door opened and a medic rushed in that she even looked to Oliver. How could this have happened? Her eyes moved to the medic, who had moved Tommy to the floor and was examining him. “You can do something, right?” she finally managed to get out.

There seemed to be a long pause before anyone spoke.

“I’m sorry, he’s gone,” the medic said as his fingers moved his eyelids until they covered his eyes. “There’s nothing I can do.”

She was still trying to process what the medic had said as she stared down at Tommy through tear filled eyes when Oliver exploded at the nearest guard. He threw him into a nearby wall and was screaming.

“We were going to sign the contracts! They weren’t supposed to be harmed! He’s only ten years old! He’s a boy!” Oliver screamed.

“Dad! Stop!” Madelyn cried out.

Felicity had finally gotten up from the floor and was holding Madelyn. She didn’t care that she was six; she wasn’t going to let Madelyn go in fear of what could happen. She was about to take a step towards Oliver in order to stop him, tears still falling and sobs still bubbling up, but she was snatched and pulled back by one of the guards.

“Let me go!” Felicity yelled.

She watched as Oliver fought with other guards. Felicity knew that she could probably get the guard off of her, but it would require her to put Madelyn down and she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. So, she watched in horror of the guards beat on Oliver until he seemed to have the advantage and had the government talker in his hands. Oliver was poised to break his neck and as much as Felicity wanted revenge, he hadn’t been the person who had killed their son.

“Oliver! No! Please!”

Felicity had known Oliver for some time and he had come a long way from being the killer known as the vigilante or the Hood in Starling City. The Arrow was someone who only killed when it was absolutely necessary.

“You better listen to your wife,” one of the guards said as he pointed a gun at her.

Looking between Oliver and the guard with the gun, Felicity then realized that he had been the one who had stabbed Tommy. HE was the reason that their son was dead. He seemed bloodthirsty and didn’t seem to have any remorse for killing their son right in front of them. “We can stop this all right now!” Felicity shouted.

“She’s right!” the government man agreed. “Everyone calm down. Take a breath.”

“My son is dead!” Oliver snapped.

“And the person responsible with face charges.”

“He was ten years old! He-he-“

Felicity could see Oliver breaking down, but she could also see the look that the guard with the gun was getting. He seemed irritated by the exchange between Oliver and the man.

“There’s only ONE way to end this,” the guard with the gun spoke up.

He was going to shot them, Felicity realized. She held tight to Madelyn and shifted her weight in order to sharply pull to one side. The guard holding her didn’t seem to have been expecting that and Felicity was turned when the gunshot went off. The pain was nothing for Felicity; all she’d wanted to do was to protect her daughter. Felicity was having a hard time keeping her eyes open as she tried to force herself to stay awake once she hit the floor.

“Felicity! Maddie!” Oliver screamed.

“Mommy…” Madelyn whispered.

Felicity stared into her daughter’s big blue eyes and realized then that something was wrong. Her eyes tiredly searched for what was wrong. There was blood all over Madelyn’s chest, but Felicity had expected that…it was her blood. Or at least that was what she’d thought. Right before everything went black, Felicity saw the wound in her daughter’s chest. The bullet had gone through her and had hit Madelyn anyway. She hadn’t served on the human shield as she’d thought or planned.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**Starling City 2030**

 

The sound of her heart pounding was all she could hear, but she’d known that she’d let out a scream when Oliver had grabbed her almost immediately after she’d sat up. Immediately her hands covered her face as she hunched over a bit, she could feel the wetness from her tears and she sucked in breath.

“You’re safe,” he whispered.

Those words felt like such a lie.

“I’m here, Felicity…”

She hated it, but she couldn’t be around him…not after those dreams. They had been far too vivid and she could still feel blood on her hands. Felicity pushed Oliver back. She couldn’t stand to be near him. It was too hard. “I’m sorry,” she breathed as she pushed to her feet, her hands hit the door of their ‘room’. Felicity opened it and took a step through before looking back at him sitting there on the floor of the closet-size room. Tears streamed her face and started to blur her vision. She closed the door behind her finally and moved away from it. Her arms crossed over her chest and she lifted her shoulders a bit as she tried to put as much space between them as possible.

Eventually, she decided that she had to leave the safety of the Foundry after she’d finished pacing the only available space in the Foundry. It was just too crowded there nowadays. It was hard for her to handle it. How she wished things had been different…

What if they’d stayed together?

What if they’d left with Sara?

What if they’d fought back?

What if…

None of those ‘what if’s were going to bring her children back. She knew that. Felicity couldn’t even visit their graves because they had been cremated and then all dumped into a mass grave. There was only one place in Starling City where she felt right mourning their loss…

She’d retreated to the subway system, Felicity had thrown up somewhere along the way. It wasn’t like she had much in her stomach, she did that on purpose. Finally, she had found the correct station. The entrance at the top had been buried and blocked long ago. The sentinels never bothered it and it tended to be a place that everyone checked much like a message board. Every city had a place like this. This station was at Saint James, which if the saint happened to be a protector of something that they needed protected from it would have been a bit more…spiritual.

Saint James had a broken down train car, which people used to sleep in when they were passing through and didn’t have a place. One wall was dedicated to messages in one section, just in case a loved one or friend passed through. The other portion of that wall was a shrine to all of those that were lost. Pictures adorned the wall, candles burned on the floor right in front. They were always lit when Felicity went there. She didn’t know who lit them, but someone knew that that place was special to people. It was one of the only things they had left. It was the closest thing to a church they had. The other wall had names scrolled all over it.

Names of the dead.

It was one thing to have a picture. Felicity didn’t even have a picture of her kids that was around the time that they’d been murdered. The last picture that she had was from 2024 before the world went completely upside down. It was something that she would never part with. She moved to the center of that wall and looked upward. This part of the wall was dedicated to over two hundred names of children that had all been murdered in what people called ‘The Massacre of Our Future’ and some called ‘The Massacre of Heroes’. The same day that her children died, so did all of these other children. It hadn’t been planned. It was a chain reaction sort of thing. Felicity still didn’t understand it all, because how could you understand killing one child? Let alone massacring hundreds?

Her children’s names were the first hand written on the wall in sharpie.

Thomas Robert Queen 2018-2028  
Madelyn Meghan Queen 2022-2028

Her children weren’t the only ones that were on that wall though.

Andrew Oliver Diggle 2014-2028  
Bennett Michel Diggle 2022-2028  
Presley Nyssa Lance 2023-2028

Felicity had known Andy and Ben and had loved them both when they were altogether like they were her own boys. She hadn’t seen them for years, but that didn’t change the horror she’d felt when she’d seen their name on the list…or Presley. They didn’t even know that Sara had had a child, a daughter. She mourned those three children along with her own two as if they were hers. They were all a family, no matter the distance that had been put between them or how much time had passed since they’d seen each other.

The names of children all seemed to blur together for her normally except those five names. Tonight though, she noticed other names.

Sophia Maria Stark 2016-2028  
Charlotte Virginia Stark 2018-2028  
Ethan Howard Stark 2023-2028  
Kylie Rose Banner 2025-2028

Those names only popped out because she was waiting to hear news about Tony Stark and she’d heard rumors that the other man that he worked with was Bruce Banner. The two of them were apparently geniuses on their own, Felicity couldn’t imagine how much smarter they were when they put their heads together. They had both lost children, so they knew exactly how she and Oliver felt. They understood the pain and loss. They understood how it felt like your life was over.

She hadn’t even realized someone was there, not until she’d noticed someone setting out flowers. Where had they gotten flowers from? Felicity moved her attention to the green hooded person kneeling there.

“Oliver?” she whispered.

It had been years since she’d seen him in that green leather. It had been at least four years and she’d started to think that Oliver had burned it or it was lost altogether. He looked up at her and pushed the hood back. “I hope you don’t mind the company,” he said quietly. “I come here…a…lot…”

Felicity nodded at first before the question came from her lips. “When do you come here?”

“Every morning… Every night…”

“Who lights the candles?” she asked. Felicity figured if he was there every morning then he had to have seen whoever was doing it. She knew that Oliver didn’t sleep much, neither of them did. Sleep wasn’t peaceful and it just brought about a recap of everything bad that had happened in their lives.

“I do.”

“You…do?” she asked and that wasn’t the response that she’d expected. Felicity’s mouth sort of hung open as she stared at him. “Where did you find the flowers?”

“I bring them for Maddie…” he said quietly. “I go back to the house—“

“You’ve been to Queen Mansion?”

“I go early…when it’s still dark… The gardens are overgrown, but there are still flowers there… Probably one of the FEW places in Starling City that still has them.”

“I want to go home,” she whispered as more tears fell from her eyes. That’s all she wanted. “I want to go home to our family…to the happiness that used to fill our lives…” Her voice broke and she shook her head a moment. “I want to go back and I’d give it all up if it meant that we could be that family…”

“I don’t know that I could…” Oliver admitted. “Being the Arrow gave me purpose then.”

Felicity stared at him for a long moment and decided that she had to tell him because he was still Oliver and she still loved him madly even after everything they’d suffered through. He was the only other person in the world that loved her, understood her, and suffered with her. “What if we COULD go back?” she brought up.

“We can’t—“

“But what if there was a chance we could change things?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked slowly as he straightened.

Felicity drew in breath and then let it out. “Have you heard of Tony Stark or Bruce Banner?”

“They’re heroes…or they were…they’re dead,” Oliver told her. “People called them Iron Man and the Hulk…”

“Tony Stark’s wife, Pepper, was called Rescue.”

They stood there in silence for a moment.

“What do they have to do with changing things?” Oliver finally asked.

“I think they’re alive.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Felicity—“

“I spoke to someone…I’m waiting to hear back from her—“

“That’s where you were?! Who was it?! How do you know that they didn’t follow you back?!”

He was angry and she knew that he would be. Felicity wasn’t going to be discouraged by his attitude. “Have you heard of SHIELD?”

“No.”

“It’s like ARGUS…except in my personal opinion…they’re the better version…” Felicity told him and for a moment she felt like her younger self. Maybe it was because she was allowing herself to believe in this hope…

Hope was precious…fragile…and hard to come by these days.

“ARGUS didn’t keep Andy or Ben safe,” Oliver pointed out. His voice broke and he looked away from her. “Or John…”

“SHIELD didn’t keep Tony Stark or Bruce Banner’s children safe either…” Felicity swallowed hard and tried to keep her emotions level, which wasn’t easy. “But that’s more of a reason to believe that IF they are alive, that they’ll help…”

“Time travel?” Oliver questioned as he looked back at her. “You know that that sounds crazy, right?”

“Or science fiction…” she told him with a shrug.

“Felicity, what if they’re really dead?”

“I don’t believe that.”

Oliver sighed.

She looked over at him and knew exactly what his issue was. He didn’t WANT to hope. He didn’t want to have it. Hope could be taken away and it could hurt you worse… “Okay,” she said quietly. “Then, I’ll hope enough for the both of us…”

“When will you know?”

“I don’t know… She said that she’d find me. Maria Hill. She’s with SHIELD.”

Oliver nodded. “I want to hope…”

“I know…”

He held out his arm, his fingers just barely brushing against the sleeve of her jacket. This was how it always was. He never pushed. He knew that he had to wait until she was ready for him. Felicity’s eyes searched his face and a few tears fell from her eyes. She moved her hand until she grasped his. Felicity launched herself at him a moment later. He held her tight, squeezing her almost too tight, but it felt so good.

“We never talk anymore,” she whispered as she held on for dear life.

His hand ran along her back. “I know,” he responded back just as quietly.

“Why?”

“Because I already know all of the conversations we would have…”

“Are you sure?” she asked as she looked up at him. Felicity sometimes wondered if they still knew each other as well as they once did. The last two years had been the worst kind of hell and she didn’t know if things would ever be anywhere near the same between them. How could they? After everything they’d lost? After all of the horror? After all of the mourning? After the loss?

“You and I are both barely holding on to life,” he said as he stared right into her eyes. “Every morning, we’re not sure we can make it through the day…and every night, we tell ourselves that we don’t want to wake up. Suicide would be the easy way out…but then we think about the other…and we can’t do it. We can’t leave the other in this world…not alone…not after everything.”

And he was right.

Oh God, he was so right.

“That’s why I come here…” Oliver told her. “As much as it would just be easier to forget them…it’s harder too… How can I?” he asked her. “They were the best things in our lives. We did EVERYTHING for them… And I failed them… I failed you…” His voice broke and he bowed his head.

They’d never talked about them since they’d been killed. She hadn’t even known about Madelyn until Lyla had told her. She’d resurfaced to find them and tell them about John. He’d died trying to protect their boys. Lyla had been the one to tell her that Tommy and Madelyn had died, but that the government had saved her life and then had just released them before Lyla just disappeared again. That was it, that was the only conversation that had ever been had about Tommy and Madelyn. Everything else had just been comfort between the two of them. Maybe Oliver was right; maybe they’d come to the point where they didn’t have to talk about everything, when the other just KNEW.

“You’re wrong,” Felicity whispered as she reached out and lifted his chin with her finger. When his eyes met hers, she spoke again. “You didn’t fail me… You haven’t failed them…”

“Felicity—“

“You’re still a hero.”

“No, I’m not.” She watched as tears fell from his eyes and his voice broke.

“You are.”

“I barely function.”

“You keep those people alive…and safe, Oliver,” Felicity reminded.

Oliver just stared at her a moment. “You wish that you’d died with Madelyn, don’t you? Or that you could trade your life for hers? Or Tommy’s?”

Her blue eyes just stared into his for a long moment as more tears fell. She nodded slowly. “Yes…and I know that you would trade places with one of them without a second thought.”

“I would do ANYTHING to bring them back…”

“So, hope…”

“I want to.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pondering which POVs to use in this story. I really wanted to mainly stay with Felicity or do Felicity & Pepper and maybe do a couple of guest POV chapters with like Oliver and Tony. Thoughts?


	4. Agents of SHIELD

 

 

**2030 Starling City**

 

Felicity seemed to have been spending far too more time at Saint James. There was something so peaceful about it. Plus, it had the added bonus of not really knowing what time of day it was or how much time had passed. She was just sitting in there on a bench and really just thinking about her life.

Whenever she’d look up at the names, she’d try to think back to a really happy memory. It was just so hard to think about Tommy and Madelyn and think that she’d failed them…and then how she’d lost them. Their blood on her hands. Sometimes it really felt like they had no happy memories…

“It’s hard to look at all of those names.”

Felicity turned to see Maria Hill standing there. “Yes,” she replied quietly. She paused for a moment to assure that she was calm enough to speak and think clearly. “But there are so many other names…names that we don’t even know that should be listed somewhere…”

“You’re right.”

“Did you find Tony Stark?” Felicity asked.

Maria Hill was silent for a moment. She moved towards Felicity and sat down next to her, her eyes on the wall of names. “I’ve known where he is,” she told her truthfully. “He IS alive. We decided that the ONLY way we would even involve you would be for you to find a way to help. You’re good with computers, so they could use your help there.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve touched a working computer,” Felicity confessed. “But I can still help… It shouldn’t take me any time to get back into it.”

“But ONLY you.”

Felicity stared at the other woman. “I—“ She was having a hard time keeping her composure. She was ready to break down and let tears loose. “I CAN’T leave Oliver…” Even IF it meant fixing the future and their timeline being changed, she just couldn’t abandon him.

“As far as I know, Oliver Queen isn’t going to be an asset to Tony Stark or the project that he’s working on,” Maria told her.

Felicity couldn’t stop the tears, she was so torn, but she tried to quickly wipe them all away. She got up from the bench and moved to the wall. Her fingers rested by her children’s names. “THEY are the reasons why I can’t just leave Oliver to go with you. We need each other.” She turned to look at Maria. “Please! We’ll figure out a way to both contribute.”

Since they had been sheltering people in the Foundry for the past two years, she knew how you really needed to have as cohesive of a group as possible. You couldn’t have people who just didn’t help the community as a whole. That didn’t mean that it made it any easier to cope with the idea of leaving Oliver behind. She just couldn’t do it. They were a team, they needed each other, and they were just better when they were together.

It seemed like Maria was really contemplating what she’d said. “That’s fair,” Hill finally replied with a slight shrug.

“Oliver can come?” Felicity questioned to make sure that she was on the same page.

Maria nodded. “But he’ll have to figure out some way to help, even if it’s scrubbing the dishes.”

“He will!” she promised. “When do we leave?” Hope was renewed within her and all she could think was that this future wasn’t going to be her life anymore. Starling City wouldn’t be in ruins, people wouldn’t be hunted and massacred, and her kids would be alive.

“Now.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 SHIED Secret Bunker – Avalon**

 

They had been scanned and medically both checked once they’d entered the facility. Felicity had no idea WHERE they were. She and Oliver had traveled in a vehicle with no windows that they could look out and she’d fallen asleep at one point. Then they’d been driven underground right into wherever they were and then had traveled via an old train line. They’d gotten to an unnamed stop and then walked from there. The whole thing felt like a week’s worth of travel. She had no idea if Oliver knew where they were, but the truth was…she didn’t care.

“I can’t believe you’re both here!”

Felicity looked between the two people that had been checking them over. She understood their need to be cautious. There were so many reasons to do so, which included the possibility of smuggling in a bomb to causing a mass wide infection that would require medication that they couldn’t get their hands on.

“Have you been here the whole time?” Felicity asked, trying to be social. She wondered if this base had been hidden away this whole time or if they’d been smart enough to find a way to secretly construct it during the time of the sentinels. Maybe they were excited to see new people and have new social opportunities. “I’m Felicity, by the way,” she said with a small smile. It was hard to push the smile forward, but the duo seemed so excited to see them and smiling seemed so easy for them.

“Oh, we know who are you!”

“I’m Leo Fitz,” he introduced with a hand extended. “This is Jemma…Simmons.”

Felicity shook both of their hands and looked to Oliver who seemed lost as he stared off towards the wall. She frowned and then looked towards the bright and beaming duo. “It’s been a long trip here…”

“Of course it has…” Jemma told her. “Our boss should be here soon to take you to some quarters while you’re here.”

“You have a boss?” Oliver finally spoke up as he looked to the two.

A voice spoke up and answered the question before the duo could. “There still has to be some kind of chain of command.” An older man stood behind them, he had a receding hairline and had dark hair, but it was graying. He, like Fitz and Simmons, seemed to be in a fairly good mood considering the world they were living in. Felicity did find it odd that he was dressed in a suit… They were living in a secret bunker and he was still wearing a suit? “I’m Phil Coulson… Maria told me that you might need some time to relax. I’m going to show you to your quarters, explain our rules, and then once you’re up to it…we’ll do a tour of the areas you’re allowed in.”

“Why does that sound like we’re in a prison?”

Felicity turned to Oliver and put her hand on his shoulder. “Oliver,” she whispered. They’d just gotten there and she felt like he was attacking the people that were trying to help them save the future. Didn’t that matter to him? She realized, though, that he’d flat out told her that he didn’t have hope…or faith…that he WANTED it though…

“I can understand why you might think that,” Coulson told him with an even and almost gentle tone. “When we first came here, a lot of us felt like that. We didn’t realize that we were the lucky ones…”

“He’s right,” Fitz spoke up.

Coulson shrugged. “The world is not what it once was…but we’re trying to get it back to that…”

“I think we’d ALL like that,” Oliver said. “But just how likely is that?”

“Maybe you’d rather skip the resting portion of things, then we can move on to the tour part…and part of the tour is seeing exactly what we’ve been prepping for here…” Coulson told him. “It’s taken us eleven years to get this point. Originally we came online before the sentinels were ever constructed… SHIELD has always been good at hearing rumors and trying to get ahead of the game. That doesn’t always happen, but this time…it did…” He was quiet then. “I know you’ve been through quite a lot over the past few years…we all have…we have all lost people and even though I haven’t personally lost children…I know how that can affect you…and how that can eat at you—“

“Coulson’s the one who started to think about this back in 2024,” Simmons spoke up. “All those years before, this place was just used as a bunker… They stored food and tried to keep SHIELD going as best as they could as an underground organization of sorts…” She held up a hand. “I promise you this isn’t a prison…and you’ll be amazed at what they have gotten done so far…”

“If you are disappointed or…you just don’t feel comfortable…I can make arrangements for you to be taken out of here without any harm coming to you,” Coulson explained. He stared at Oliver for a moment. “I’m sure you understand our hesitation to reveal ourselves and then to just let people leave here…”

“I understand the need to keep people safe,” Oliver replied.

Coulson nodded. “Then I think we’re on the same page.” He motioned in the direction he’d come from. “Shall we start our tour?”

“Yes, please,” Felicity spoke up and she took Oliver’s hand. She looked at him and could tell that he’d softened a bit. She wasn’t suspicious, but she understood why he was. All she kept thinking about was how they HAD to change the past, so that they could have a different future…or present, as it were.

“FitzSimmons, coming along?” Coulson asked before heading down the hallway.

This was just the beginning, she tried to remind herself before she and Oliver started to follow him.

The facility was HUGE. Felicity had NO idea how they’d kept it hidden for so long. It had to have been because they had been using it since 2019 and that the government hadn’t had a log of every SHIELD facility at the time. When they scanned the area, it must have been shielded and/or just looked like it normally looked. Whatever they’d done, they’d done a good job to keep it safe and a secret from the government. She was more than impressed and it really did help her to be hopeful about everything working.

Eventually, they made it into a huge open space. There were workstations everywhere and Felicity found herself wanting to touch EVERYTHING. She couldn’t help the feeling; it had been so long since her fingers had touched a keyboard. Technology used to be a big part of her life, but it hadn’t been since they’d been on the run. They’d lived without tech because tech could be traced, but this…it was like Christmas…or a technology wonderland…

“You’ve missed it,” Oliver whispered.

She looked from all the beauty of the old and outdated equipment and then looked to her husband at her side. He was staring at her and he almost seemed a little happy. Happy…it was such a foreign concept to them… “It feels wrong to say it, but yes…” she replied quietly. “I was good at it…”

“You’re good at a lot of things, Felicity,” he reminded.

“Where is everyone?” Fitz asked.

The lab was quiet and seemed to be empty. It wasn’t until there was a huge crash, which was followed by a long string of cussing.

“Tony’s still here,” Simmons announced almost too cheerily.

Felicity looked over at the woman and realized that she used to be a lot like Jemma. She used to be the always optimistic and cheerful one. It was hard to think that anyone could be like that in the world that they lived in, but she was sure that finding something to be happy about everyday did help you live life and to not be so miserable. Felicity used to be able to do that…now that seemed like a lifetime before.

“You okay?”

She shook her head and realized that everyone was staring at her. “Sorry…just sort of zoned out…”

“It happens to all of us,” Jemma told her. “Plus, you have had quite the trip…”

“We can still let you settle in first,” Coulson offered.

“Felicity?” Oliver asked and she could tell that he was genuinely concerned about her.

She squeezed his hand for a moment. “I’m fine, really… I’m tired, but I want to meet Mr. Stark…if we can?”

“Maybe Coulson should go first,” Jemma said. “Just to make sure that things are okay…”

Coulson seemed not thrilled with that suggestion, but he did so anyways. He headed off in the direction that the loud crash had come from.

“I know everything is outdated,” Fitz said as he motioned around. “But it still does the job…”

Felicity looked around and so wanted to run her hand along the side of the nearest monitor and let her fingertips caress the keys. There were bits of tech all around her and she didn’t know what it was all meant for, but she just wanted to sit down and try to work with things. She remembered when hacking and just doing what they did in the Foundry was almost relaxing. Not all of the time, but some of the time… When the pressure wasn’t high and it wasn’t life and death…

“I’m sure it does,” Felicity said. “I just hope I still know how to use one competently enough.

“Isn’t it like riding a bike?” Oliver asked.

Felicity, Fitz, and Simmons just looked at him. “Not exactly,” Felicity said. “I mean, I’ll figure it out…but it’s definitely not the same.” For a moment, Felicity had a feeling like she was home again. She knew that it was because of the technology and that Jemma reminded her of herself. It was sort of nice, but then she’d remember everything…everything that had gone wrong…and everything that made her cry at night…

Tommy.

Madelyn.

Coulson returned a moment later. “So, before I take you over to the lab that has been turned into a complete disaster…seriously, you need to watch where you step…” He paused for a moment. “Tony is a bit…”

“I think most people use the term…eccentric,” Jemma spoke up.

“I use the word loony,” Fitz said quite matter of factly.

“You’re really not painting a very—“

“Sane?”

“I was going to say nice picture…” Jemma told them. Felicity watched them and she could tell that they were close. She figured that you had to be if you lived down there together for so long. “But I think it’s hard to expect people not to be broken in some way with how much it seems like the sentinels have taken from people…”

“Maria told me that you have your own memorial wall,” Coulson said and that seemed to stop Fitz and Simmons from talking. “We have one of our own… Maybe we should go there first. Give Tony a few minutes…”

Felicity really wasn’t sure if she could handle seeing another memorial, but at the same time…theirs had become more therapeutic in some ways. At least it seemed to help while she’d been waiting in limbo for Maria Hill to reappear and basically tell her whether she should have hope or not. She already KNEW that Tony Stark had lost three children. It was hard to function after you lost children, especially in such a senseless and gruesome way. His children were close in age to Tommy and Madelyn. She didn’t know the exact way he’d lost his, if they’d been killed in front of him…but it was beyond difficult no matter what.

“I would like that,” Felicity spoke up and looked between them all.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 Memorial, SHIELD Secret Bunker – Avalon**

 

When they arrived, there were others there and for the first time, Felicity felt like she was intruding. Back at Saint James Station under Starling City where their memorial was, it was rare when more than one or two people shared the same space. Felicity suddenly wondered how many people lived in that bunker. It was obvious that SHIELD had taken steps and precautions in order to hold out long term if they’d been around since before the sentinels went crazy.

Coulson guided them over to a wall similar to theirs that had all of the names of the children that died the same day theirs did. Tears fell from Felicity’s eyes as she took in pictures. There weren’t many, but there were pictures of a couple of families next to some of the names. She noticed right away that there was a picture by the Stark children’s names. She stared at them; all of the children were red heads with bright blue eyes and looked so happy. Felicity suddenly realized that their mother was down there, she’d seen her…

Felicity turned to look to her right to see the woman in the photo standing next to Coulson. She looked back to the wall to take in the other photos. There were other pictures and Felicity wished that they had pictures to put up for everyone they knew. Felicity had ONE picture of their family and she just couldn’t give it up. It was too precious to her. She had no pictures of Diggle’s family or of Sara’s… She realized that with the massacre…and all of the killing…that some of the people would never be remembered more than just for their names...and that seemed so wrong to Felicity. There were still pictures in existence from the early nineteen hundreds, but they didn’t have them now…she just hoped that in the future (if for some reason they failed to change their present) that they would look back onto the past and question the time of the sentinels.

Oliver stepped forward, Felicity watched him closely, his fingers ran along Tommy and Madelyn’s names for a moment. She didn’t know where he got it from, but Oliver pulled out the same picture that she had and wasn’t willing to give up. He looked around suddenly. “Does anyone have tape or something?” Oliver asked and turned his attention towards Coulson.

“We’ve been gluing them up,” the woman spoke up. “If you don’t mind it being permanent…”

“We’re here to change everything…this is the last time I want to see my children’s name in memorial…” Oliver explained.

The woman nodded and held up a finger before disappearing for a moment.

Felicity turned her attention back to Oliver. “I didn’t realize you had that picture…”

“I wanted to keep them close,” Oliver told her.

“It’s a lovely picture,” Jemma said suddenly. “And I’m SO sorry for your loss…”

“They were older…when we lost them,” Oliver said. “Tommy was ten…and Maddie was six…”

It was so odd for Felicity to hear him talk about them. They just didn’t talk about them. It wasn’t like it would change what had happened, but it was hard for them to be together since they had lost them… Felicity didn’t blame Oliver, even though at one point she could think of a whole list of reasons WHY it COULD have been his fault…but then she had come to her senses. That list of over two hundred children’s names had reminded her that no one in the world was safe from the madness, chaos, and uncontrollable evil that was the world that they lived in. It was just too hard to really be as close as they once was…it was like a huge part of both of them was missing. A blackness that was trying to take over the rest of what was left of them…

He looked right at her now. “I almost lost everything that day…”

Felicity couldn’t breathe for a moment. That was definitely something that they tried to avoid talking about. The fact that she almost died with Madelyn and Tommy on that day and she was somehow saved…that had been extremely hard for her to live with for a long time…it was still hard. To leave Oliver alone, though, if she’d been given a choice in that moment…Felicity didn’t know if she could have decided to selfishly die then.

The next thing she knew, Oliver was gluing up their picture next to their children’s names. She realized that it helped to make the memorial look more complete… It also made her feel suddenly like she wasn’t alone in her mourning as she looked at the other pictures of the other families up on that wall.

“Phil, do you think we could have a moment?” the woman asked. Felicity knew that she knew her name, but she just couldn’t remember it at the moment.

“Sure,” Coulson said after a moment. “We’ll head back towards the lab.”

Coulson, Fitz, and Simmons left them. Felicity and Oliver turned their attention to the woman. She felt like she should say something, but she just couldn’t think of the right words. Felicity didn’t know her and the standard ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ just didn’t seem right to say. It wasn’t that it wouldn’t be sincere because Felicity knew EXACTLY how she felt, but rather it just didn’t seem to convey the empathy she felt for her.

“We were unsure about your coming here at first,” she told them. “I’ve met other who have lost a child…” She paused for a moment. “It breaks something inside of you and some people have just been past the point of being able to contribute and being positive in ANY way.” She paused again and looked like she was trying to hold herself together. “We KNOW that being positive isn’t easy in ANY way. Here, it’s necessary in order to make anything work…for the project to be successful…for us to keep any of this from happening.”

“I’ll admit,” Felicity spoke up, her voice breaking. “Hope and positivity was something that had died in me when I lost my children… THIS is what I’m living for, knowing that if this works…my children will never die in my arms.” She wiped away the tears that had fallen. Felicity was embarrassed about crying, it was more that it had surprised her. She hadn’t realized she was crying.

“I—“ Oliver started and then stopped.

Felicity grabbed his hand as she stared at him. It was hard, she knew that. She wanted him to know that she was right there for him. This was the first time that it seemed like Oliver was okay with living and might actually feel hopeful…at least she hoped so.

“I didn’t think I could HAVE hope again,” Oliver admitted.

“You met Leo and Jemma,” the woman told them. “They didn’t lose children, but these pictures,” she told them. “These pictures…your picture that you just put up…are what motivates them.”

“How close are they to make whatever it is to work?” Oliver questioned.

“You’ll have to talk to Tony about that,” she told him.

“He’s your husband?”

She gave the smallest hint of a smile. “Yes,” she confirmed. “I’m sure Leo and Jemma have already warned you about him.” She bowed her head for a moment and wiped her own tears away. “He’s consumed with the project…the less sleep he gets, the more I need to be in the lab as a buffer for his personality.” She paused. “Losing children just affects all of us differently…with how we cope…how we deal with living in a world without them.”

It was hell.

Hell without end.

Death was the only escape.

“I HOPE that I can be helpful,” Oliver told her. “I’m better with arrows…”

“I’ll make sure there’s something you can do,” she assured. She stopped and then seemed to realize something. “I’m Pepper, by the way.” She held out her hand and Felicity thought that it must have been the most normal introduction they’d seen in years.

Oliver shook her hand. “Oliver Queen.”

Pepper then offered her hand to Felicity next, she shook it. “Felicity,” she informed her.

“We should probably go meet up with the others,” Pepper told them after a moment. Even though she’d shed tears, Felicity still felt like Pepper was a stronger woman compared to her. She seemed so together like Maria Hill had. Pepper’s red hair was pulled neatly back into a ponytail. She wore clean clothes: dark jeans, a pink shirt, a SHIELD jacket like Hill had been wearing, and running shoes. “Bruce will probably be there by now…” she explained as she pointed to another picture on the memorial wall. The picture was of a dark haired man, woman, and baby. The picture was glued up next to Kylie Banner’s name. “He’s like my other husband.”

“His wife—“ Felicity started to ask.

“She didn’t make it.”

It was best to ask Pepper now, Felicity thought. She looked at the line with the little girl’s name and realized that she’d only been three years old when she’d been murdered. Kylie Banner had been one of the youngest… “If it works, they’ll all be alive,” Felicity whispered. Her hand went to touch the fabric of her shirt, a locket rested underneath. Those words were more of a reminder for herself than anyone else.

“I like to think that all of us here are a family,” Pepper told Felicity. “Some of us have known each other longer. Some of us read the same books. Some of us know the same pain that some others feel. In the end, we all want the same thing…”

Without any more conversation, Pepper led them out of the memorial and back the way they’d come to the lab area. She headed back where Coulson had gone and they found two men and what looked like a robot. Felicity knew that they were Tony and Bruce from their pictures at the memorial; their hair was just going grey now. “I thought we weren’t going to explode things anymore,” Pepper said to the two men with a sigh.

“It was JARVIS’ fault,” Tony defended quickly as he pointed to the metal robot.

“This time it REALLY was JARVIS’ fault,” Bruce told Pepper.

The robot started to speak with an entirely too proper English accent. “My systems are not at one hundred percent,” JARVIS explained. “We lack the sufficient resources necessary for the proper maintenance and upgrades that my systems require.”

“We have new friends,” Pepper told them and turned so that she could motion between Oliver and Felicity and Tony, Bruce, and JARVIS. “Tony and Bruce, this is Oliver and Felicity Queen.” She paused for a moment. “Oliver and Felicity, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner.”

“Don’t forget about JARVIS,” Tony said as he patted the red and gold robot beside him. “He’s normally more awesome and impressive.” Tony looked straight at them. “Please tell me that one of you specializes in robotics.”

“Computers,” Felicity said as she held up her hand.”

“Arrows,” Oliver added.

“Do you wear purple, too?” Tony asked.

Oliver looked confused. “No,” he said quietly and slowly. He was still confused. “I used to wear green.”

“Green!” Tony exclaimed as he shot up to his feet and started to move things around. “We LOVE green! Don’t we, Bruce? We do! One of the best colors!” He moved some screens around for a moment. “What did you call yourself?”

“The Arrow.”

“Not the GREEN Arrow?” Tony asked and seemed disappointed.

“No.”

Tony turned to Felicity. “How about you? Have a cool codename?”

“Oracle,” Felicity said quietly.

“I think we’re going to like you two,” Tony said as he messed with what looked like code on his screens. “Aren’t we, JARVIS?”

“Yes, Sir,” JARVIS responded politely.

Bruce made a face and turned to them. “He’s not always like that.”

“Why lie?” Pepper asked him. Her tone was gentle and matter of fact.

“It’s Tony,” Bruce admitted. “It’s just a force of habit…”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	5. One Step At A Time

 

 

**2030 Science Lab, Secret SHIELD Bunker – Avalon**

 

Felicity was studying the project board with the scientists involved on the project. It was filled with equations, codes, blueprints, and random sketches that looked like they’d been done on napkins. Out of everyone there, Felicity was fairly sure that she was the only one who really didn’t belong. Everyone else was a genius and she knew that Oliver would tell her differently. In their world, she had been a computer genius…but in this world…it wouldn’t matter unless they saved everything…

Tony clapped his hands together once before turning towards them. “Okay, we need to—to—um…to do something.”

Already, Felicity knew how this worked. Tony HAD ideas and such, but he was much better at communicating what he wanted or what he was thinking by putting it down on paper or building something. Bruce was the one who talked reason and actually seemed to be the one who communicated. Felicity wondered if this was what Pepper meant about Bruce being like another husband. Tony seemed absolutely brilliant, but broken…and Bruce sort of made up for everything Tony lacked…

“We need to triple check everything on this board,” Bruce said as he pointed to the board. “We also need a list of materials we’ll need, plus we’ll also need to figure out how many people can go through the portal…and how they will be affected going through it.”

“Fitz, you take the board,” Simmons said. “Felicity can help you.”

Felicity nodded. Fitz and Simmons were so in sync, it amazed her. She understood why Coulson and some of the others referred to them as one, FitzSimmons. Sometimes she got a little jealous, they seemed to have been shielded in a huge way from the horrors of the world, but at the same time…she’d been able to freely love and for what seemed like a brief moment…she had this perfect family and life. She just hoped that if this all worked that they would be given a second chance to actually live outside of the science lab.

She moved with Fitz to his workspace, which was right next to Simmons’. The only thing that really distinguished the computer areas was that Jemma had a little TARDIS on her desk. It was cute and it did help in trying not to get too lost in how tragic life had become beyond those walls…it almost helped give a little more hope. No matter what, it made her smile when she’d see it. A piece of home.

“Okay, so do you want to work on the computer code? Make sure that everything looks right?” Fitz asked.

“JARVIS ran it already, so I know it HAS to be right, but I’ll do it again,” Felicity told him with a nod as she borrowed Jemma’s computer station. Their computers had basically become giant calculators and processors, but really that was all they needed. “What about the blueprints?”

“When we go to make the list of supplies, we can both check it over,” Fitz told her as he looked over from his screen.

They worked for hours to make sure that everything was checked and checked again. They were working with geniuses, but even a genius made mistakes sometimes or just couldn’t see quite around their box. They’d all contributed in some way to the project so far, so it wasn’t just Tony or Bruce who had dreamed it up. It was truly a collaborative project and as it got closer to being completed, the more hopeful Felicity got.

It just worked better when they worked in their own small groups; it tended to make things run smoother. Anything with Tony tended to bring tension and a lack of talking or being productive in anyway. That’s why he always stuck with Bruce and JARVIS and also why Pepper tended to hang around a lot of the time. Working so much in the lab hadn’t given her a lot of time to see Oliver, but she knew that he was okay. She’d noticed a change in him, maybe just because he felt a sense of purpose and hope… Whatever it was, she’d missed it.

“So, I’m fairly sure that the calculations are still coming up the same,” Simmons announced. “The portal will only be strong enough to transport one person, one way, and the side affects aren’t very good…”

“And by very good you mean?” Fitz asked.

Bruce and Tony had left to try to catch a nap, so there really was no harm in them discussing it amongst themselves. When the others returned, they’d pass on their findings like they always did.

“Death,” Simmons said matter of factly. “I mean, whoever goes through will have an hour…maybe three…but they’ll be suffering the whole time. It’ll make them physically ill…I can’t even begin to speculate the EXACT type of symptoms except that they’ll be bad…”

“Well, that’s cheery.”

Felicity knew that it sounded all brimstone and end of the world, but the truth was that they didn’t NEED a lot of time. “We can program the location that the person arrives at, right?”

“That’s probably the EASIEST thing TO program on this thing,” Fitz reminded her as he motioned to the board. “What does that matter, though?”

“For example,” Felicity said as she looked between them. “IF Simmons were the one to go back. We would just have to send her somewhere where she knew that she could locate Coulson and you, Fitz… For most of us, that’s a set location—“

“We were on a plane then,” Simmons told her. “ALWAYS traveling.”

“Bad example, but you understand,” Felicity told them. “We wouldn’t need more than three hours… We would just need to find the person we know we can convince, tell them everything, maybe write it down, and prepare them to fight the future…”

“You make it sound so easy!” Fitz practically complained.

“Why make it difficult?” Felicity asked. She realized a moment later that they were both smiling at her. “What? What did I say?”

“You just reminded us of someone,” Simmons told her. “A friend.”

“Someone who didn’t make it here?”

They both looked so sad suddenly. “She was reassigned. Her name was Skye.” Simmons turned away for a moment and then turned back. “I told you that we used to live on a plane…with Coulson. There was a team of us. That was our family…until we got split up… Those are the people who first motivated us… All of the horrors that happened after that, they’ve just kept us going.”

“You’ve never said anything before now,” Felicity said quietly. “I mean, I knew that you two had to have had a family—“

“The sentinel program has been hard on all of us…” Fitz said. “But they definitely hit the family that we built more than the families we were born into…”

“Because they pretty much shoved us in here so soon, before the program even took off, they’ve assumed we’re dead,” Simmons explained. “So far…they’ve left our families out of the insanity… But we’ve always knew that that meant that we couldn’t go see them.”

Felicity nodded. She understood what they were talking about, about all of it. “Well, we’re going to fix all of that, right?”

Jemma beamed at her. “Right!”

“We better go over the numbers one more time,” Fitz said.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 Memorial, Secret SHIELD Bunker – Avalon**

 

She went there a lot. Far more than she’d visited Saint James back in Starling City. Felicity still didn’t know why that was, but something felt different. She’d also gotten used to there being other people down there, mourning their losses as well. Normally, during this hour, she’d be down there with Oliver. Oliver was busy, however, Coulson had him busy doing something. They’d both agreed to contribute and that’s what they were doing. Felicity knew that she’d see him in a couple of hours when she would finally be ready to strip down and crawl into bed.

It was so odd to think about that, she thought as she sat down on a bench in the memorial area facing the wall of children’s names. As almost institutionalized the facility was, it felt like living a normal life. It was the closest they’d been to one in a long time… Back at the Foundry over the last two years, their room had been the ONLY private quarters and their bed had been a yoga mat with old blankets over it. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it had been all they had had.

“You’re here a lot.”

Felicity looked up and was surprised by who was sitting down next to her. Maria Hill. She really didn’t know a lot about her. She seemed to know everyone and was close, but then they were all SHIELD or they’d worked closely with SHIELD. Everything had told her that she could trust her. There was that. “It helps…”

“It does,” Maria said as she turned her eyes to the wall.

“Did you have a child?” Felicity asked as she watched her.

Tears sprung from Maria’s eyes and she didn’t even try to wipe them away as she continued to stare at the wall of names. Felicity had always assumed that she’d just lost people, fellow SHIELD agents…maybe family (everyone had family), but she hadn’t seen her down there in the memorial.

“No,” she replied after a few minutes. “But four of the children…I was close enough to be an aunt, I guess…”

Most of the children who died were only children, but there were a handful of sets of two siblings…and she only knew of the Stark children and one other family that had three children. People just didn’t have as big of families when the world goes to hell. She didn’t want to pry, but she also knew that mourning alone and keeping it all inside was hard to do. Maria had been there at that facility with the others, but sometimes it was nice to tell someone that you didn’t know as well.

“Sometimes we make our own family,” Felicity told her. “When Oliver put our picture up there on the wall…I wished that I had pictures of our friends and their children. Everything was left behind and lost, though. I didn’t even know Oliver had the picture he did…and I have the same one, but I just couldn’t bring myself to give it up. It’s the last thing that I have to remind me of them…even if they were older…”

“I saw them die,” Maria confessed as she looked right at Felicity.

“Who?” she pressed and then immediately felt guilty. “You don’t have to tell me. I’m just trying to—“

“The Stark children… Sophia, Charlie, Ethan… Kylie Banner…” Maria told him. “After SHIELD went under because of Hydra…we all had to find other jobs. Civilian jobs…” She paused for a moment, as if waiting to make sure that Felicity was still listening. “I started to work with the Starks, mainly as Pepper’s security. I went everywhere with them before everything started to go to hell. I even was there at the hospital for every one of those kids’ births… I was even present for Kylie’s birth…like really present…” She paused again and just seemed so lost and so sad. “We were finally coming here… They were going to be the first children allowed in these walls… We were so close…and then the sentinels came…”

Felicity didn’t need to hear every detail to know that all four of the children were killed. She still remembered far too vividly how her children had died, holding them in her arms, feeling their blood on her hands… “We were heading to somewhere safe, too…” she whispered.

“It was an underground railroad system,” Maria told her. “Coulson started it. He’d get people to a safe house where they’d erase their identities and then build them new ones.” She was quiet. “Eventually, everyone was supposed to end up here… Fury even had had plans to expand the facility, if necessary…”

“I didn’t know that.”

Maria nodded and wiped tears away. “Not a lot of people DID know about it. They called it Operation: Genesis. It was supposed to preserve the future…” She shook her head. “We failed…” She looked directly at Felicity now. “We ALL failed.”

And Felicity knew that she was right.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	6. Of Bedtime Stories and Nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria Hill POV chapter. 
> 
> It's 17 pages long. Sorry it took so long! I DID get my computer fixed, for those who don't know. I had the bulk of this written by hand, so I had to go in and type it all up and then I realized that this chapter has an extra scene compared to MOST chapters I do. It's definitely needed those. 
> 
> Have tissues ready. You have been warned.

 

 

**2015 - Stark Tower, New York**

 

"You DO realize that just because we're married doesn't mean that I HAVE to go by Stark."

"But we're married!"

"JARVIS is STILL calling me Ms. Potts."

"It's MY system and somehow YOU got to override even ME?"

This was generally what she had the privilege to listen to for a majority of the day. She worked as Stark Industries' security along with Happy, as well as Pepper's personal security. Maria was fairly sure that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts' 'discussions' had only become more frequent since they'd married a couple of months before. Her job DID have its perks though. She received excellent pay, benefits, respect, entertainment, paid meals, and plenty of time to sit and read. It was amazing the amount of novels she'd purchased during her time with SHIELD that she was never able to read. She hadn't even OPENED them. Maria had nearly read her whole stack since beginning working with the Starks.

"You DO realize that you could read that on a table, right?"

This was something that Tony enjoyed going over everyday. "Not quite the same," Maria replied.

"Oh, leave her alone," Pepper told him gently. "She has a tablet--"

"EXACTLY!" Tony exclaimed.

Maria smiled and shook her head as she watched Pepper spend all of their time in New York, but the house in Malibu wasn't quite complete with its reconstruction yet. She didn't mind going in between or even travelling elsewhere with the Starks. She'd actually missed the travel.

Civilian life was not easy. She kept in contact with others as best as she could, but it wasn't the same. Maria actually found herself missing the SHIELD uniform every morning, there were far too many outfit combinations to choose from. She had regretted buying more than a closet full of black suits and white blouses. She carried a weapon, but Tony didn't like it. Maria had been concerned about being able to properly protect Pepper and she felt naked without her sidearm. That wasn't all of it, she missed the action. Maria knew, though, that she couldn't have asked for a better job after SHIELD fell to Hydra. Of course, she knew that at the moment that wasn't possible. SHIELD had to be rebuilt and that took time.

"Time to go," she announced. It was more of a command than a suggestion. Maria liked to keep the Starks on their schedule, which was easy when it was just Pepper… Staying on time meant that she KNEW what to expect. Between her phone and her tablet, she had access to apps and cameras within the buildings that all told her everything she needed to know and what to expect. She could keep them alive if she knew what to expect.

"What's on the calendar exactly?" Tony asked. "Because Bruce just texted me…he's actually IN civilization and I was thinking we could work here and order in Chinese."

Pepper and Maria let out an audible and collective sigh. This was typical of Tony, but when it came down to it…Pepper was her priority. "Catching our flight back to California," Pepper reminded. "We're supposed to meet with the contractors in the morning."

"The private jet isn't going to run away," Tony told Pepper. He received looks from both Pepper and Maria for his comedic efforts. "Anyways, good thing I never leave home without a suit. I can just fly over in the morning. See? Problem solved."

"Uh huh…"

"What? JARVIS can wake me."

"There's a reason why I block your schedule out until a specific time."

"Genius doesn't keep normal hours," Tony told her. "I can't help it."

Maria couldn't contain her laugh, but Tony didn't seem to care. Watching the two of them was sometimes like watching television. The occasional outburst couldn't be helped. Especially when it came to the things that came out of Tony's mouth.

As if on cue, Happy appeared. "The car's downstairs and ready. Pepper, your bags are already in the car. Yours too, Maria." His attention moved to Tony. "But someone didn't pack...again."

Tony looked confused. "Maria and Pepper did that plotting thing last time and packed me that bag...for instances like this one...that can go."

"It wasn't in the closet," Happy reported.

Pepper let out another frustrated sigh. "Tony…"

"What? I didn't do anything," he argued. He held up his hands in defense. "I haven't even accidentally blown up something today...or caused any accidental casualties in the process."

The sad thing was that that was actually a big deal. Tony Stark was a genius billionaire, but the biggest thing going for him was Pepper. Maria hadn't met Tony in the early days back when Fury, Natasha, and Coulson were handling things...but she'd heard stories. Even after New York, she could see that he'd changed. Marriage didn't suit everyone, but it had done wonders with Tony Stark. Even if his relationship with Pepper wasn't perfect in the way that the outside world stereotyped, it was perfect for them.

It was different for heroes.

Maria knew that most in the world knew Pepper Potts as the CEO of Stark Industries and wife to Tony Stark. The truth was, Pepper had done much since the birth of Iron Man to give her the honor that title...the babysitting aside. Maria knew all of the reports practically by heart. She'd felt the need to research when she'd first applied for the job.

In two thousand eight, Obadiah Stane tried to have Tony Stark assassinated so he could take over Stark Industries. What he really did was create heroes. Pepper was the one who blew the arc reactor at Stark Industries, which in the end was what stopped Stane (AKA the Iron Monger). In two thousand ten, Pepper took over as CEO of Stark Industries and likely saved the company. She saw to it that Justin Hammer was arrested, who was ultimately behind Ivan Vanko (AKA Wiplash). She stayed behind in the chaos of a hacked War Machine and sabotaged weapons display at the Stark Expo to make sure that the expo was clear, never a thought about her own safety. Though Pepper wasn't with the Avengers when everything in two thousand twelve, Maria had seen Pepper and Tony after. There was no doubt in her mind that Pepper was his heart and most likely the only reason he'd had his almost self sacrificing moment. Tony was also sober (or at least he wasn't drinking anywhere near as much as he once did). In two thousand thirteen, the Malibu mansion had been destroyed. Pepper had saved Tony after he'd saved her by encasing her in his Iron Man suit. Pepper had also been instrumental in destroying Aldrich Killian (AKA the real Mandarin). Pepper Potts was definitely a hero.

"Look, you're going to ruin the surprise," Tony told them. "You're already sort of ruining it by making me tell you there IS a surprise."

Pepper sighed. "That's not making me feel any better about going without you."

"Fine," Tony groaned. "It's a surprise for YOU," he told Pepper. He smiled suddenly.

"Not a giant rabbit, right?"

"It wouldn't fit."

Maria shook her head. She'd already heard all about the giant rabbit Christmas fiasco. The bunny's demise was pretty much the ONLY good thing that came from the destruction of the mansion in Malibu.

"Are you sure it's for me?" Pepper asked. "Or something that you got for you--"

"I'm making it," Tony told her quickly.

"You're making it…?" she asked slowly.

"Metal. Red. Gold-ish," Tony told her. "That's all I'm telling you."

"And Bruce is supervising?"

"Supervising isn't the term I'd use," Tony said as he scrunched up his face. "But if that's what you need to hear to feel better about it, then sure...he's supervising." He held up a hand and quickly added a moment later. "But don't text him those words...it'll go to his head."

"Ah," Pepper replied and Maria could hear it in her voice that she was trying to hold back a laugh. "Well, you two have fun...but behave and PLEASE--"

"We won't blow up the building! Promise!"

"I was hoping for not blowing up ANYTHING."

"Yeah, we can work on that, too," Tony said quickly. "You two go. Enjoy the jet. Do something fun tonight."

Pepper seemed to be appeased enough or she just figured that there was no use arguing with Tony Stark. They'd just end up being there all night, Maria knew because she'd witnessed it before and Maria really didn't want to go through that again. She was fairly sure that Pepper didn't want that either. THey'd only both end up with migraines.

"Just call me," Pepper told Tony before embracing him for a long moment. They exchanged a kiss and she seemed to stare at him for some time. Maria suddenly wondered if this was the first time they'd really been apart since the Mandarin, but KNEW that Tony had been on Iron Man missions since then, it just felt like that in that moment.

"I will call and text you updates," Tony promised as they separated. "JARVIS is going to remind me," he added as he raised his finger. "Right, JARVIS?"

"Would you like an update on the hour, Ms. Potts?" JARVIS questioned.

"I think every two hours is just fine, JARVIS," Pepper spoke up with a smile.

"Reminder saved."

Maria took that as a cue to peek at the time, so she could somewhat keep track of when Tony SHOULD be checking in. "Well, now that we've sorted that out," Maria said. "Time to go. We ready, Happy?" She turned to see that Happy Hogan had sat down and made himself comfortable on the couch. She suddenly felt like they were never leaving, but then Happy was far more used to how things worked with the Starks.

"Right," Happy said with a sigh. He got to his feet and headed for the elevator. "Right! Let's go!"

Pepper gave Tony a quick kiss. "See you soon," she told him and headed for the elevator too.

"Hill! You're going to protect wife, right?" Tony called.

Groaning, Maria stopped and turned to him. "It's not my first day."

"Not exactly the answer I was looking for."

"Don't worry, Tony," Maria told him. "Pepper's safety is my number one priority...which is why I'm going to go and keep my eyes on her and protect her right now," she said as she motioned in the direction of Happy and Pepper. Maria jogged after them a moment later. She managed to catch up with them as the elevator doors opened.

"I was thinking dinner once we land," Pepper told her. "What do you think? Happy already has plans and the hotel suite's already set up."

"I did double check to make sure the reservation is in place and all measures are in place for your security."

Pepper smiled sweeter. "So, how about dinner? You and me?" Pepper paused for a moment. "I understand though if you need time alone--"

"No," Maria said quickly. "It sounds good to me." She and Pepper routinely took meals at the office, but this was different. The truth of it was that Maria really did enjoy Pepper's company. "It'll be like a girl's night."

Pepper grinned. "Let's just not tell Tony about it."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about ME telling Tony," Happy told them as they entered the elevator and he selected the correct button. "I'll somehow be convinced to spy on you and report back to Tony...and I'm looking forward to my plans tonight."

"Would it help if you're given counter orders now?" Maria asked.

Happy looked confused. "What kind of counter orders?"

"Happy," Pepper said. "IF Tony asks you to spy on our dinner, then I am ordering you to tell Tony you're going to and then go back to what you're doing."

"What happens when he wants updates?"

"Turn off your phone."

Maria spoke up this time. "I've got tonight covered."

"And don't pick up the room phone," Pepper told him. "If we're trying to get a message to you then we'll leave it at the front desk or have someone relay it."

"Tony just has to make vacation complicated," Happy complained.

"This isn't vacation, Happy," Pepper told him and now they were the confused ones.

"It IS from Tony."

Maria laughed and patted Happy's shoulder. "Have I mentioned how much I like working with you?"

"You know who else enjoyed working with me?"

"Pepper?"

"Natasha."

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2019 - Stark Mansion, Malibu**

 

"Story! Story!"

Maria Hill sometimes felt like a nanny rather than a personal guard. Over four years, the Stark family had grown, it now included a three year old and one year old. Both girls had the fair complexion, the bright eyes, and the red hair like their mother. There was also no way that you couldn't love those girls.

"I thought your mother said not to bother Ms. Hill with story requests," Happy said as he entered the bedroom.

Even though they had the space, both girls shared one room. It made sense with them beign so close in age plus Maria liked them being in the same location in case something happened in the middle of the night. At first, she'd had her own place, but it ended up being easier on everyone to live wherever the Starks lived. Protecting Pepper had turned into protecting a family.

"I think Pepper prefers unicorns and princess stories over war stories," Maria told him with a smile. She had never been one for princesses, unicorns, pink and purple, or sparkles.

"What book are we reading?" Happy asked three year old Sophia as Maria head out of the room.

"Fury!" Sophia spoke up.

"I was thinking more The Princess and the Frog or The Littlest Unicorn," Happy said.

Maria stopped at the door and turned. "Where were we?"

"Under the water."

Maria smiled. "So...Fitz and Simmons--"

"One's a girl, right?"

Nodding, she smiled a little brighter. "Yes. Jemma Simmons."

"Is she like a princess?"

"They're both scientists."

"A scientist can be a princess."

Maria stared at the little girl. Sophia was certainly an intelligent and advanced child, though given who her parents were she didn't know why she was so surprised. "I suppose you're right," she conceded.

"So?"

"So," she said slowly. "Jemma and Leo were trapped underwater in a box."

"What kind of box."

"A box that was supposed to keep them safe," Maria told her.

"Was it blue?"

"No."

"Was it bigger on the inside?"

Maria sighed, "No." A beat passed. "It wasn't the TARDIS, though I'm sure they wished for one." She paused in case there were any more questions. When Sophia remained silent, Maria continued. "There wasn't enough air in the box, so Leo gave Jemma the special breathing device, so she could swim to the surface.

Sophia popped up in her bed and covered one of her eyes with the palm of her little hand. "Is this the part with Fury?"

"Not quite yet."

The little girl sighed and flopped back on her pillow. "Continue...please."

"So, Jemma used the device and swam to the surface, but she made sure she took Leo with her," Maria explained. "Leo was asleep when they got to the surface and Jemma was worried he was hurt, but then--"

"Fury!"

Maria sighed. "If you KNOW this story, then why am I telling it?"

"You're just better at it," Happy spoke up with a smile.

"Well, I should go," Maria told them.

"More!" Sophia shouted. "Please?"

"More TOMORROW," she said. "Good night."

"Night."

Maria left the girls' room and headed downstairs. She had something that she needed to discuss not only with Tony and Pepper, but Bruce as well. SHIELD wasn't anywhere near where it once was, but Coulson was slowly rebuilding it. She'd gotten word about a new facility opening and some concerning rumors. Maria found them discussing the tweaks Tony had done to the Rescue armor down in the workshop.

"Hey Maria," Bruce greeted with a smile.

"Hi," she greeted back. No matter how terrifying his counterpart was, Bruce Banner was always the sweetest person. She had NO idea how he could put up with Tony like he did. Maria knew that Bruce had someone in his life and she didn't know how he'd react to her idea. Bruce's life hadn't been easy and this would mean that he wouldn't have to run or hide out in far corners of the world where no one knew who he was. He could be like everyone else. "Can I talk to the three of you?"

"You're not quitting, right? Because I CAN TRY to be less annoying," Tony spoke up. "TRY."

"No, I'm not quitting," Maria said slowly and was confused. She wondered if Tony really worried about her quitting that much. "I wanted to talk to you about my recent trip."

"Did you go and visit Coulson?" Tony asked.

Pepper smiled. "How is Phil?"

"Why is he always Phil?" Tony asked Pepper.

Maria shook her head at the exchange. "Yes, I DID see Director Coulson." It was still odd to her for Coulson to be the Director of SHIELD even though Fury made that change some time ago. It had been years and it was still hard for her to really remember. "SHIELD has a secret location--"

"Only one?"

She ignored him and continued. "The facility's been codenamed is Avalon. SHIELD might be moving a lot of its people there… Coulson wants all three of you there."

"We have jobs," Pepper reminded. "I really don't think we could balance one more thing."

"It's not a JOB," Maria clarified. "It's more like an emergency bunker. There's rumors flying that something bad is coming… Coulson wants you three and your loved ones at Avalon. There's facilities for the children and I swear half of the facility is just science labs...so you two shouldn't be bored…"

"For how long?" Pepper asked as her face turned to worry.

"I don't know."

All that she knew was that there were rumors about some kind of super weapon and it seemed to Coulson like the Avengers and those closest to them really needed to hole up together. One thing she knew for sure was that Coulson wouldn't decide such a thing unless he really thought it was necessary. He wasn't one to be reckless or jump too quickly to conclusions. They might not know all the facts, but it was obvious that Coulson had a bad feeling about what was coming.

"You just want us to leave our lives behind?" Pepper asked.

"I can't just ask Betty to come with me," Bruce added. "To give up her life and come hide away somewhere…"

"I wouldn't be suggested it if I didn't think that it was a good option," Maria reinforced. "You all KNOW Coulson--"

"I'm still not quite over the whole letting us think that he was dead thing," Tony spoke up.

"We've been over this. He WAS dead. Fury had him brought back...don't ask me all the details. I don't know them," Maria said quickly with a wave of her hand. "The point IS--"

"I think we can handle whatever comes together," Tony told her. "What about Thor? Steve? Clint? Natasha?" he rattled off quickly, almost too quickly.

"Natasha and Clint are with Coulson and I assume Steve as well," Maria informed him. "I have no idea about Thor though. He might be in Asgard."

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend?"

"Jane," Pepper, Maria, and Bruce all filled in at the same time.

"Yeah...her."

Maria sighed. "She COULD be with him."

"Really?" Tony asked and made a face.

"Really," Maria replied slowly.

"I just don't think it's necessary… When we've stood together, we've been unstoppable," Tony told her. "Whatever's coming...we'll face it together."

"We can't just give up everything and expect the kids to live normal lives in a SHIELD facility," Pepper added.

"Those kids are extraordinary. They'd thrive in that environment," Maria insisted. "PLUS, they DO have specially designed areas for kids… They thought it out when they were designing it--"

"What about Stark Industries?"

"I--I don't know."

"It doesn't matter because we're not going," Tony told her definitively.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2024 - Stark Tower, New York**

 

It had been nearly five years since the sentinel program had been in operation and Maria Hill didn't know how the Starks didn't want to go underground. Now more than ever, they had reasons. Three reasons. Sophia (8), Charlie (6), & Ethan (1). She wasn't a mother and they weren't her children, but she didn't understand how Tony and Pepper could be so confidant that they could keep their family safe.

Every single person in the Stark household, she and Happy included, had to be registered with their act. Maria never liked that and it only told her that it was a matter of time before they'd use that data against them. That was the ONLY reason why such data would be collected. It REALLY bothered her that the government required the children to be registered as well.

"Is this going to be another lecture about how we need to move into hiding?" Tony asked. "Whenever you go to Avalon and talk to Coulson, that's always your line… You know you CAN go and be part of SHIELD again. I can find a new--"

"No," Maria said firmly. "I'm not leaving… I just--Tony, I wish you'd come and see it. Talk to Coulson--"

"Stark Industries has been working to supply the government with tech, they're not going to do something stupid like come after us because I'm Iron Man," Tony told her. "I heard that Natasha, Clint, and Steve aren't even at Avalon."

"They've been out in the field," she filled in.

Tony was obviously not convinced. She really didn’t know what more she could do to convince them. She wasn’t going to run, though, and leave them there without the protection that they and those kids needed. If SHIELD was better formed, she’d have asked Coulson for a small detail to assist her in protecting them.

“You know that Pepper isn’t going to go into hiding and make the kids live in some secret underground facility where all they'll see is cement walls…" Tony told her. "Rhodey practically lives with us now… Okay, maybe that's NOT true, but it feels like it sometimes. If something happens...we have Iron Man, War Machine, and Rescue to protect the family. We have locations to go to. I'm not going to let anything happen to my family."

"Tony--"

"I don't care what Phil...or Fury says…"

"Fury is dead."

"Sure...you keep telling me the lies."

"Even if they came here and told you IN person?" Maria questioned. She wasn't sure if she could swing it, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Even if they were right next to you right now," Tony told her. "We have a good thing going. The company is doing the best it's done...ever. The kids are happy. Pepper's happy. So, pretty much my life is perfect."

Maria was just going to let it go, to report back in to Coulson and let him know that they were going to have to figure out a different plan. She needed to protect the Starks, but this just wasn't working. How could she protect them if they wouldn't even accept the help that she was trying to give? The help that she thought that was absolutely necessary? She watched Tony walk away and she let out a sigh. Maria was about to go to find Pepper and the kids when the TV caught her attention. She turned to it and pulled her phone out at the same time.

"Governments around the world are arresting every single person on the mutant/superhero/accomplice act. Sentinels are already picking up criminals--"

There was no more time.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2028 - En Route to Avalon**

 

They had finally given up thinking that things would get better. They'd spent most of the past four years together in one of Tony's hidden away bunkers. Maria hadn't known about any of them. He had three hidden across the United States. He'd bought them with cash and had used a pseudonym when he'd made the land arrangements. All of the chips that had been placed in their arms had been removed, which had been the most traumatizing on the children. For the first year...and the second one, Maria had watched Tony and Pepper hope for a future that wouldn't hunt them AND their children down...like what happened was a big mistake. They'd barely made it out of Stark Tower before the sentinels had descended on it. She didn't ask, though, she was just thankful that everyone was safe.

Their group was a little bigger, but Maria knew that Coulson wouldn't mind. It had just taken them almost six months to travel to the location covertly. Being covert wasn't an easy thing anymore. There were seven adults and four children in their group.

"Are we there yet?" Sophia asked.

Maria looked down at the twelve year old and sometimes she had a hard time not picturing her as the three year old little girl who asked her for stories about SHIELD and Fury and trying to crossover what had been Maria's past with Doctor Who. This little girl who had to grow up far too fast over the past four years. "Soon," she promised as she wrapped her arm around her as they walked.

It was dark, past ten o'clock, as they walked along outside of a major city. They were close. They'd be there in time for dinner the next day. Maria was more than thrilled. Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey were at the front of the group, keeping an eye on things as they walked. She, Bruce, Betty, and Happy were following behind, the kids interspersed between them. Bruce was carrying three year old Kylie, she was fast asleep, her dark hair was covering her face. She was an adorable thing and she was certain that Bruce would appreciate not having to worry about keeping her quiet all of the time and letting her actually play like a three year old. Charlie was holding Happy's hand, Maria had noticed that it seemed like even more so on this trip the ten year old girl seemed closer to Happy than before. Ethan, who was now five, kept himself in between Happy and her for the most part. He knew that he was to keep close, just in case.

Tomorrow their lives would be vastly different.

"Will Jemma and Leo be there?" Sophia asked quietly.

"FitzSimmons will definitely be there," Maria promised with a smile as she looked down at the girl. "Last time I was there, Simmons even had a TARDIS at her workspace."

Sophia beamed. "Really?"

"They're also supposed to have a whole library of books as well as a whole server room full of digital entertainment," Maria told her. Sophia loved reading and she'd been reading the same four books over the last four years. They hadn't left the bunker often, but when Maria had...she'd always looked for things for the kids...like books. She had a feeling that Sophia was going to adjust the best when they finally got there.

"Tomorrow seems like so far away."

"I know," Maria replied. "But it'll all be worth it. I promise."

"I'll get my own room, right?"

"Maybe."

"It's been a while since I've had an actual bed...or a room…"

The buzzing alerted them before anything else. The buzzing almost made your bones vibrate or maybe that was just because they'd learned to fear them. "Everyone stay together," Pepper said as she turned to look back at them. It only took seconds before Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper were all in their suits. The armor suits were easier to carry now, they lived in the wearer's bones. All three now had a modified version of Extremis in their system. It made them stronger and faster, it helped them heal...and it also was specially designed so that they could carry the armor inside of them.

The buzzing grew louder. Panic set in, but Maria was prepared for this. They'd drilled in what to do with everyone. Everyone knew what to do. Maria knew that that was going to keep them safe.

"Maria!" Sophia shouted.

The girl had a firm grip on her and Maria immediately picked up Ethan. She put her arm around Sophia and held her close. She watched as Bruce handed Kylie to Betty as he moved towards the suits, who were now forming a ring around them in order to keep them safe. Happy had moved Charlie, so she was between him and Betty and had a hold on her. "We're going to be FINE," Maria promised the kids in a calm tone. "I want you all to remember where we're going and how tomorrow we're going to be safe...okay?" They all nodded, but she could tell that they were terrified.

Sentinels surrounded them, hovering, and Maria noticed that they were all about the same size as the armor suits. They would have known earlier if one of the original massive ones was en route a lot sooner if they were coming. Bruce changed before their eyes into the angry green Hulk and she felt Sophia tighten her grip on her. Bruce had never Hulk-ed out in front of the kids before. Not even Kylie had seen him like that.

"Identified. Tony Stark. Pepper Stark. Sophia Stark. Charlotte Stark. Ethan Stark. Bruce Banner. Betty Banner. Banner offspring. James Rhodes. Harold Hogan. Maria Hill."

Maria was shocked that the sentinels seemed to have been upgraded to be able to scan them and to figure out a relation. They KNEW that Kylie was Bruce and Betty's, but Kylie had been born while they'd been on the run. She was the only child in their group that had NEVER been registered with the government. She had NO idea what other kinds of upgrades had been added to the sentinel units since they'd been on the run.

"Remain calm. Remain still. Surrender your tech. Come peacefully."

"That's not going to happen," Tony announced.

"We do not wish to harm you. You are to be arrested under the--"

"No," Tony interrupted.

Instead of a firefight ensuing, a blast of light emitted from the sentinels towards them. It hit Iron Man, Rescue, War Machine, and the Hulk first. Finally it hit them and it didn't hurt. Suddenly, all three suits just collapsed to the ground. All that was left between them and the sentinels was the Hulk, who seemed even more enraged now. They gathered together tighter and Maria pulled out her sidearm. She knew that most weapons didn't work on sentinels, but it COULD slow them down.

"Mommy!" Sophia cried out.

"Daddy!" Charlie screamed.

Maria Hill felt like she'd prepared for this moment all of her life. Through all of her SHIELD training and keeping up with that training. Never once over the last four years had she had to use her gun, but she'd always kept it clean and ready to use. "You stay right at my side!" Maria told Sophia as she moved her behind her and readied herself to fire. The sentinels moved closer and Maria started to fire. She could hear the Hulk off to the side of her dealing with those sentinels, she just hoped that he was breaking them into tiny pieces. It would be nice to know that they didn't upgrade everything at least in Maria's mind, the Hulk had been really the best at destroying the sentinels, but inside of the cities…there were always armies of them, so the sentinels would just keep coming.

She took a moment to look over to see that the Hulk had about half of them and he had one on the ground in pieces, but that really wasn't enough. She set Ethan to the ground and made sure that he was between her and Sophia. Maria started to worry more as she reloaded her ammo and pulled out a second gun.

"It's not fazing them!" Betty cried out.

Maria looked over again and noticed that Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey were still unmoving. She'd been hoping that at least the armor would retract, but that still hadn't happened. So, she did the best that she could, kept their group tight and fired on the sentinels. They hadn't fired back or seemed fazed at all. Maria just kept hoping that she'd hit a vital part somehow. Anything to get them out of the situation they were in.

"New orders issued!" the sentinels bellowed together.

The sentinels opened fire. This was something that she wasn't ready for. "Run!" Maria ordered. No matter how much she fired upon the sentinels, there was one thing that she knew for certain...the sentinels would win.

"Bruce!" Betty screamed.

The Hulk turned towards them and charged at the sentinels. Maria took that as her cue to grab Ethan again. "Run!" she repeated.

The group ran off together, pulling the kids along the best they could. At first, Maria thought that they were going to be able to hide and make it until morning. Coulson was expecting them, she'd sent word. If they could hide long enough, then she was certain that SHIELD would send help. They weren't safe, though. Happy's cries signaled that. She turned to see Happy fall, having been shot in the back by a sentinel. Charlie tumbled and looked back, unmoving.

"Keep going!" Maria instructed as she set Ethan down and placed his hand in Sophia's. She turned back and headed for Charlie. Happy was unmoving, face down, and as much as she didn't like to leave someone behind...they HAD to. Maria scooped up Charlie and ran after the group.

I'm sorry, Happy.

Once she was back to speed with the other group, she let Charlie back to her feet and they continued to run. The buzz seemed to surround them suddenly. When the sentinels came into view and she realized that they were surrounded and that they'd do anything, she knew what she had to do. Something that she'd been trained to never do.

"We surrender!" Maria shouted as she raised her hands up in the air, she let her weapons drop to the ground at their feet.

The sentinels hovered for a moment. "New orders dictate, eliminate targets."

"Shit!" Maria mumbled as she tried to act fast enough.

She wasn't fast enough.

Betty and Kylie were shot first and then Ethan. Maria let out a guttural scream as she grabbed Charlie and Sophia who were screaming and tried to use her body to shield them. The rest became a blur before Maria remembered the world going dark. She remembered hitting the ground and realizing that Charlie was limp and that she'd stopped screaming. It was suddenly so silent, except for the humming buzz from the sentinels. The last thing she remembered was Sophia's bright blue eyes staring back at her, full of tears and the quiet words the girl spoke on her dying breath.

"Fury will come…"

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so for those who are not familiar with the type of Extremis mentioned in this chapter. I based it off the kind in the "Iron Man: Extremis" graphic novel. I figured that by the time it took place that Tony might have gotten bored and figured out how to advance the Iron Man suit to that point AND to reprogram Extremis. So, hopefully that makes sense. I'd definitely recommend reading "Extremis". It doesn't have Pepper, but it's definitely an interesting route to go as far as the armor and that kind of thing is concerned.
> 
> Also, don't forget to follow me on twitter @shannyfish


	7. The TARDIS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than the other chapters, but the last chapter was super long ;)

 

 

**2030 - Science Lab**

 

It took time. Sometimes it felt like too much time. Felicity knew that everything had to be right, though. This machine was everything for all of them. It meant hope...an unbelievable kind of hope. Felicity wasn't sure she really even understood how much this machine was going to change everything. She KNEW what was going to happen, but Felicity was certain that it as change more than what she could think of. There was so much that had happened in the world that needed to be changed, this was the chance to change all of those things.

"We need to run those tests," Fitz said.

Felicity turned her gaze from where Bruce and Tony were working and followed Fitz to where Simmons was. Jemma was tapping the top of her TARDIS and humming. "Have you gotten those tests done yet, Fitz?" Jemma asked.

"They're started, but I thought we were going to talk about what's going to happen to whoever goes through the machine?" Fitz asked.

"What do you mean?" Felicity questioned. She'd heard them talk back and forth about things, but sometimes she zoned out. It wasn't that it wasn't interesting or that Felicity couldn't follow, it was just that sometimes she found herself thinking about Starling City...thinking about how things used to be...and missing her kids.

Jemma and Fitz turned to her. "The machine that's being constructed is basically a time machine," Fitz explained.

She got that.

"But not like the TARDIS--" Simmons added.

"No, not like the TARDIS," Fitz said quickly. "It's more like...you have to think of it like going into an alternate universe. We can't be CERTAIN, but we're fairly sure that when more than one of the same person exists in the same space--"

"It's just too much for the universe to handle, it's not right," Jemma finished. "So, in order to correct it...it makes both people sick...and the person who crosses over is likely to die...and quickly...within hours…"

"Which is why it's imperative that we use the machine to send whoever is going back close to where their past self will be."

Felicity nodded in understanding. She understood what they were saying and understood that whoever went back was on a suicide mission, but then...really, this whole project was one big suicide mission. If they accomplished changing the future, then their lives would all be different and their universe would no longer exist. That's what they wanted. She knew that anyone would volunteer to do so, but really...it had to be just the right person. It wouldn't be easy to go back fifteen years and tell your past self how to change things. Felicity was fairly sure that she'd freak out and...well, it was just a lot to pile on a person.

"How do they choose who goes?" Felicity asked.

"There's a system," Fitz told her. "And you trust the system."

Jemma nodded in agreement.

"That sounds a bit rehearsed," Felicity told them. "But I guess everyone has a system…" Back when Team Arrow was working to keep Starling City safe, they had a system too. It wasn't always precise, but it worked.

"We've been in SHIELD for a while… I guess it's sort of ingrained into your brain," Fitz told her. "In a good way."

Felicity just smiled. "Of course."

"You and Oliver… The Oracle and the Arrow...didn't your team have something like that?" Jemma questioned politely.

That seemed like a lifetime ago.

"I used to always tell Oliver that there had to be another way," Felicity found herself saying without really thinking much. "I guess that's sort of been my mantra over the years…"

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 - Oliver & Felicity's Quarters**

 

Silence.

Oliver was holding her, he was laying on his side and she was on her back staring up at the ceiling. The quiet was nice. Breakfast and night were the only times that they really got to be together. They didn't NEED to talk. They really just needed each other. They needed the comfort and the companionship. That didn't mean that they didn't love each other because they did, it was just that they'd been through so much. Their love had changed so much over the years.

Love wasn't a simple thing.

Love's an ever-changing thing. Just like people. It often starts off as friendship and then grows from there. It changes with every breath you take. With every fight. With every compromise. With every major life event. It's tested, but it doesn't break...unless you allow it to break. There were times where Felicity didn't think her heart could bear to hold the weight or had the ability to love anymore...she'd been wrong. There was nothing left to live for in that world, nothing except love. It was what kept her going. Love and hope. That was it.

"We were talking about how whoever goes through...goes back," Felicity spoke up quietly. "How they have only so long and how they'll be in excruciating pain...and basically slowly dying…" She paused for a moment. "They have to go back and convince their past self to change the future… I don't know that I could convince myself of everything…"

"Well, are they sending you?" he asked and when she rolled onto her side to look into his eyes she could see the concern.

"I don't know. They haven't said WHO they're sending," Felicity explained. "I think it'll be someone from SHIELD."

"I have faith that if you had to go, that you could do it," Oliver told her. "I don't think necessarily you'd have to convince YOUR past self, you could convince me…"

She hadn't thought of that.

"And you, Felicity, have always been convincing…"

"But you're stubborn," she countered.

"That's true," he conceded and kissed her forehead. "I still think you could convince me."

"Everything has to be so perfect, though," Felicity explained. "Really...they'd have to do it almost with whoever would be closest to this facility. We're a long way from Starling City, Oliver."

Oliver sighed. "We have been for a while…"

"The person told doesn't need to know EVERYTHING," Felicity spoke up a few minutes later. "They just need to know what events to stop. The sentinel program--"

Oliver silenced her with a kiss. "It'll be sorted out by the director, I'm sure."

"You have a lot of confidence in SHIELD all of the sudden," Felicity told him a bit surprised. It had been hard for them to come to Avalon. At first, they weren't going to allow them both, but Oliver had quickly figured out how to be a trusted asset. He'd do anything if it meant changing things, just like she would.

"I've learned a lot working with them," Oliver said and kissed her again. "But enough with SHIELD." He started to kiss down her neck, his hands moving down her bare sides.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 - Science Lab**

 

"You know, we need a name for the project," Jemma brought up as they sat around her and Fitz's workstations. Jemma suddenly beamed. "What about the TARDIS?"

"No," Fitz shot down quickly.

"Why not?" Jemma questioned.

"I think you're just hoping that if we name it the TARDIS, then whoever goes back can be codenamed 'the Doctor'."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"And you probably have other ulterior motives," Fitz pointed out. "Like hoping that giving it that name will ensure that when the timeline is hopefully fixed that Doctor Who will still be around in 2030."

"Civilization DID fall past the point of no return around the time they stopped airing new episodes of Doctor Who," Jemma pointed out. "I don't think that's coincidence."

Felicity smiled as she listened to them continue. FitzSimmons was definitely interesting and she understood why people called them FitzSimmons as a set. She watched as Tony and Bruce worked on welding parts of the machine together and Pepper was supervising. Felicity had noticed that Pepper was supervising a lot lately.

"I don't know that TARDIS is exactly something Coulson would greenlight," Felicity finally spoke up.

"Maybe if I talk to him," Jemma told Fitz with a smile.

Fitz rolled his eyes in response. They were all quiet for a few minutes. "Just think about how different our lives will be if this works…"

"I'm honestly not sure how it would be different," Jemma spoke up. "Maybe we'd be on the bus with Coulson...or maybe we'd have SHIELD completely built back up and we could be working out of the Triskelion."

"That's it?" Felicity asked them. She looked between them, it had been obvious to her since she got there, before she'd ever heard their stories about how they'd worked alongside each other for what seemed like their whole lives that at the very least that Fitz was in love with Jemma. "You two never have thought about getting married? Having a family? Settling down?"

"Not really," Jemma said flatly. "I guess...it just hasn't seemed to slow down enough to really think about that."

"I've thought about it," Fitz admitted. Felicity looked towards him as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was staring at Jemma. He shrugged his shoulders. "It's just never been something that's been available to us."

"Well, it's not like we were being held prisoner, Fitz."

"Sometimes it's hard to break away from something you love," Felicity said. "I wonder if Oliver and I hate quit with Team Arrow and let someone else protect Starling City…if our children would still be alive." She noticed that FitzSimmons were staring at her and looked concerned. "But then I realized that the world would still be the same...and I wouldn't want them to have this future…"

"But the TARDIS will change all of that," Jemma said confidently.

"We're not calling it the TARDIS, Jemma!" Fitz insisted.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	8. Scars, Guilt, and Affairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper's POV
> 
> Tony gets into a fight. Pepper remembers feeling helpless and then finds comfort.

 

 

**2030 - Science Lab**

 

Sometimes she wondered why she seemed to be living in the science lab lately. She'd get distracted and then she'd remember exactly why she was there. "Tony… Tony…" Pepper said as she got up from her chair and moved between the two. Her attention was on Tony, though. He was the one who really needed her to intervene, he didn't know better. Pepper grabbed Tony's arms and looked over her shoulder to see Bruce moving Leo Fitz away from the project. The younger man looked like he was going to have a black eye and probably some cuts, but he'd survive. Leo was a good guy and he certainly didn't deserve this.

The thing was...Tony didn't deserve it either.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked as she looked towards Bruce and Leo. She could see Jemma and Felicity, who both looked extremely worried and upset by the whole ordeal. Leo had just been looking at something on the project, just to make sure that the wiring was all connected properly because it hadn't connected properly when they had plugged it into the tablet. Leo had just been trying to make it work.

"Fine, fine," Fitz replied shortly and quickly as he nodded and held his hand over his eye.

"Tony!" she shouted as Tony fought against her hold. Pepper looked at him, right at him. When he stilled, his eyes focusing on her, and then Pepper ran her fingers through his hair. Her fingers slowly along the scar that zigzagged from his ear along his hairline and into his hair. It was a thin line where hair no longer grew, but she could always find it no matter how long his hair got. "Breathe…" After a moment, she waited to see if he said anything. When he didn't, she spoke again. "Do you remember where you are?"

"Of course, I do!" he snapped.

Rage fired through him, Pepper shook him as both hands gripped his upper arms again. "Tony! Stop!"

"Why don't we clear the room?" she heard Bruce suggest.

"Come on, Fitz," she heard Jemma say softly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see them all leave out of the room. Well, all of them except Bruce. As much as she wanted to be mad at Tony, she knew that that wasn't fair. It wasn't his fault. Tony couldn't help it. Two years before, when the sentinels had come...when they'd been neutralized and kept from doing anything about their children being murdered...Tony had sustained an injury to his head...to his brain. Tony had suffered brain damage. His brilliance was still there, but he wasn't social. He was okay with her and with Bruce, probably because the three of them were always with together. They all shared the same set of quarters and they were all the family that they really had left. "It's okay," Pepper whispered as she loosened her hold on him and then wrapped her arms around him, enveloping him in a hug. Tears fell down her face as she just held him. Something about Tony always seemed broken, vulnerable, and almost childlike to her now… She wished that she knew what was exactly going on in his head. They didn't talk anymore… Not like they used to. Everything was about the project. That was their life.

That wasn't life.

"They're gone," Bruce told her.

Pepper nodded against Tony's shoulder and then she kissed the side of his face before pressing her forehead against his. "You can't react like that… Leo was just trying to help…"

"He--he--he was going to BREAK it," Tony started, his voice sounding like he was going to erupt. "He--he--"

Pepper pulled away from him and just stared at him. What had happened to her husband? Sometimes it was hard for her to look at him and not wonder if they'd done the right thing. Pepper had told the doctors to do anything they could to save Tony, but had she been selfish? Should she have let him die? Should she have let him be in peace? Pepper just hadn't thought she could bear a world like the one they were living in alone… She had never thought that he would turn out like this… That she would ultimately lose him, that only his genius would remain.

"Why--why--why are you cry--crying?" he asked and his face scrunched up. His hand raised to touch her face, but his hand froze an inch from her face. It was like he was afraid to touch her.

Her eyes slid closed and she just tried to remember a happier time. It was hard, her mind was so heavily impacted by the ugly and evil events of the what the world had slid into. Pepper thought back to a time when she, Tony, Happy, and Maria were on some beach with Sophia running back and forth with the waves squealing while she sat under the umbrella watching with a baby Charlie. God, how she missed her children. They had brought so much joy to their lives… All three of them. It felt like just yesterday that she was holding each one of them in her arms as an infant.

Sophia… Charlie… Ethan…

More tears fell down her cheeks as all she could think about was the fact that her children were gone. They'd been murdered and they'd been helpless to do anything. Sometimes she found it hard to even look at Tony or Bruce. They'd all lost so much. It wasn't just her and Tony's children… It was Happy, too. It was Betty and Kylie. They'd all died that day…

"Did I scare you?" Tony asked in a whisper.

Pepper opened her eyes to stare into his and there was something there that she hadn't seen in years. It was like she was actually talking to the man that she had married. His eyes were filled with worry and yet kindness. His eyes reverted almost as quickly as they'd changed. Tony grabbed her and seemed like he was about to hurt her, when Bruce intervened. Bruce got between them and Pepper watched as he seemed to start to be changing into the Hulk.

"Bruce! Stop!" Pepper shouted as she moved herself back towards Bruce. He was pushing Tony up against the wall and she could see Bruce's skin tinting a green and his muscles seemed to be expanding already. She knew that he was trying to control his anger, though, because the Hulk hadn't completely taken over yet. "He didn't mean it! You know--"

"I know," Bruce said as he stepped back from Tony. She could hear the struggle in his voice.

Tony didn't look even fazed by being slammed against the wall by Bruce. He just stood there, unmoving. Pepper looked between the two of them for a moment. Tears were rolling freely down her face and she had a feeling that they all needed some space apart. "Let's get you to bed… You could use a nap…" Pepper said gently as she reached out and practically peeled Tony away from the wall. His face softened and he seemed so broken suddenly.

"I--I--I can't sleep…" Tony mumbled as he went along with Pepper just the same.

Pepper sighed. She knew that he was going to say that. "I'll make you tea," she whispered.

"Don't like c--c--cold tea…"

"But you'll drink it," she told him gently as they walked along. Pepper hated to do it, but Jemma would give her pills to put into tea for Tony in order to help him sleep. It was a sedative. She really did hate to do it, but they all needed it...and most of all...Tony needed it. He couldn't do any good if he was so sleep deprived...if he was violent...if he was unpredictable...if he was dangerous…

Once they were in their quarters, Pepper guided him to the mattress in one corner on the floor. There were pillows, sheets, and blankets that were just tossed about. It was how Tony preferred things. Pepper had tried at first to keep it neat, but it only set him off. So, she'd given up on it. Tony's corner was the only bit of chaos in that room. She watched as he settled down into a crosslegged position on the floor.

She moved to make the tea and mix in the sedative before bringing it back to him. He took it without another word and started to drink it down. Pepper carefully removed the shirt that Tony was wearing and then moved onto his shoes and socks. She took the cup from Tony once he was done with it. He relaxed back onto the pillow and Pepper made careful work of his pants once she set the cup aside.

"Pep…" Tony whispered.

Taking a moment, she folded his clothes neatly and set his shoes next to the pile. Pepper turned back to him, he was curled up on his side and looked so vulnerable and lost to her. She scooted, so that she could move his head into her lap. Pepper stared down at him, her fingers moving through his short hair. She hummed quietly as she watched his eyelids as they slowly slid closed. She didn't stop humming though, but her gaze moved up towards the ceiling as tears fell once more.

"I miss you," she whispered as she closed her eyes, her fingers still running against his scalp...through his hair.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 - Command Center**

 

"We need to make sure that whomever we choose has the correct qualities," Maria stated. "I think we need to really think about that first."

"Won't whoever goes back...end up right where we are?"

Pepper turned to look towards Fury. "You're right," she spoke quietly. "They will. It will have to be someone who can easily make their way from here to their past-self in a short amount of time."

"How much time are we talking about?" Coulson questioned.

Shrugging, she let out a sigh. "I'm not sure." She paused for a moment. "THEY'RE not sure." Pepper shook her head. She knew that the project wasn't perfect. There were so many unknowns, but one thing was sure...the person who went back wouldn't have much time.

"What happens to the person who goes through?" Fury questioned.

"They get sick," Pepper said quietly as she looked at all of them. Between babysitting Tony and spending nearly every minute with either Tony or Bruce, she felt like she had thought up half of the things on the project. That was just how well she knew it. "From what I understand, it'll be like radiation poisoning...but they can't be sure. It could be an HOUR and not HOURS. We just can't be sure."

"So, the question is...who was in this area fifteen years ago?" Coulson asked.

"That's only the FIRST question, Director," Maria brought up. "The SECOND one is...who can we trust to complete this mission?"

Pepper thought back to two thousand fifteen. It was the year that she and Tony were married. "We were at Stark Tower…" she spoke up as she stared down at the table that was between them. "I mean, Tony and I were...and Maria…"

"Bruce was in Africa or something back then, I think…" Maria spoke up.

"Tony CANNOT be the one to go back," Coulson voiced. "He's too…"

When Coulson's voice trailed off, she looked up to see him looking at her. Phil Coulson was a sweet guy. Being Director of SHIELD had changed him, but he was still the man that she'd befriended. She knew that he wasn't trying to offend, but the truth was...she was well aware of exactly what everyone else thought of Tony. They were right. "He's too broken," she agreed quietly. "But he also wouldn't be able to convince himself."

"I wouldn't believe myself," Maria admitted.

"Really?" Coulson asked, he sounded surprised.

"So, who does that leave?" Pepper questioned.

"How about you?"

"Me?"

"You."

Pepper stared across at Coulson for a long moment as she sucked in breath. She knew that Coulson and Fury really wanted someone they could trust. Of course, using a SHIELD agent would probably be preferred, but at this point...Pepper felt like she was practically SHIELD. She did just as much as any SHIELD agent in that facility, if not more. She worked with Tony and Bruce and then she worked up in the command center with all of them. Keeping busy was important to her. It kept her thinking about what they were working towards and kept her (for the most part) from dwelling on the horrors of her past. Sometimes, though, she found it hard to be around Tony or Bruce or Maria… They all reminded her of her children and Betty and little Kylie...and Happy… They had been meant to all be there at Avalon TOGETHER. If she and Tony had acted sooner, then maybe...just maybe their children and their friends would all be alive still…

"I don't--" Pepper started.

"You would have access to Stark Industries…" Coulson pointed out.

"Do you not believe that you could convince yourself?" Fury questioned.

"She'd have to get past me," Maria reminded.

"I don't know," Pepper admitted.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2028 - En Route to Avalon**

 

As they walked along the road, Pepper felt like she was overwhelmingly aware of their surroundings. At the same time, she knew that she could be even more aware. They weren't in their armor, but Pepper was wishing that at least one of them were. At least this way, they were less conspicuous. Since the Extremis virus had been reforged into something new, they could carry the armor inside of them. Rescue lived inside of Pepper and it heightened her senses, sharpening her vision and hearing.

Rescue was never supposed to be a weapon.

The name Rescue was because that's what the armor capabilities were. It had the same strength, speed, and operating system as the other armors, but the closest thing to a weapon was its electromagnetic abilities which Pepper could shape in different ways.

There was a buzzing sound. They all froze for a moment, but a moment was all they needed to realize the danger they were in. "Everyone stay together," she commanded as she looked back at the group behind her, Rhodey, Tony, and Bruce. With a simple thought, her armor moved from inside of her bones and formed around her. When her HUD came up, she immediately started searching for them. They were out there…coming for them…

Sentinels.

"Maria!" Sophia shouted.

Pepper sometimes hated the suit. She couldn't hide her children away inside of the armor and yet she couldn't stop being who she was. Pepper also had to do everything she could to protect her children, which meant being Rescue and trusting Maria and Happy. Maria Hill had been with their family long enough to BE family and Pepper knew she'd protect her children as if they were her own.

They knew that the sentinels were getting close. They had trained the kids for this, they all had trained for that moment. Iron Man, War Machine, and Rescue formed a ring around Happy, Maria, Betty, and the four children. They purposely left an opening for Bruce. They just had to hope that the four of them were enough.

"Sentinels approaching," JARVIS announced through the HUDs. "Eight identified."

"We're going to be FINE," Maria promised. Pepper knew that she was trying to keep the kids calm. She wished that she could be the one holding them and assuring them that they were going to be fine, but this was where she had to be. She had to hold the line and shield them. She had to be Rescue. "I want you all to remember where we're going and how tomorrow we're going to be safe...okay?"

Eight sentinels.

She tried to tell herself that they could handle that many sentinels, but as they were surrounded...she wasn't so sure. It had been some time since they'd really had a run-in with the sentinels and Pepper was certain from looking at the readings on her HUD that the sentinels had been upgraded since then.

"Identified. Tony Stark. Pepper Stark. Sophia Stark. Charlotte Stark. Ethan Stark. Bruce Banner. Betty Banner. Banner offspring. James Rhodes. Harold Hogan. Maria Hill." The sentinels boomed as their collective electronic voices spoke. "Remain calm. Remain still. Surrender your tech. Come peacefully."

"That's not going to happen," Tony announced.

"We do not wish to harm you. You are to be arrested under the--"

"No," Tony interrupted.

None of them were just going to give up. They'd heard enough rumors of what was going on in the world out there. They knew the horrible things that the government did. They knew that there were talks of the government killing people rather than incarcerating them.

A blast of light emitted from the sentinels. When it hit her, Pepper's HUD flickered for a moment before the whole suit went dark. All power went offline and Pepper found herself collapsing, still encased in the Rescue armor and unable to retract it. Pepper could hear and feel the Hulk (assumingly battling the sentinels), but not JARVIS, Tony, Rhodey, or the sound of the armor's operating system rebooting.

She was trapped.

"Mommy!"

"Daddy!"

Pepper could do nothing now to keep her children safe. She was completely helpless. Everything slipped away from her a moment later.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 - Quarters**

 

"You're just talking a lot more tonight," Pepper said. She was wrapped in a sheet, her hand holding it in place as she turned onto her side to stare at Bruce. After talking with Fury, Coulson, and Maria she'd been thinking more and more about the past. The past hurt. The past was hell.

"What are you thinking about?" Bruce questioned as he propped his head up in the palm of his hand as he stared at her. The blanket covered his lower half, but he seemed to be completely comfortable that that was all of him that was covered.

"They want ME to be the one to go back," Pepper told him. "I don't know if I can do it."

"They wouldn't choose you if they thought you couldn't actually do it, Pep."

Pepper didn't know what she'd do without Bruce. He was always so kind, loving, and reassuring. On days like this, she really needed that. She was fairly sure that she would have died or Tony would have killed her by now if it hadn't been for Bruce. Her life had been flung into complication even more after her children and friends had been murdered by the sentinels. She and Bruce had both needed comfort and Tony...well, Tony didn't care. His mind had always been a scientific one since the accident. The loving and emotional husband that she'd fallen in love with and married...he'd died two years ago. He'd died with their children...with Happy...with Betty and Kylie. Pepper had never planned to cheat on Tony, it had happened one night and she'd felt horrible about it. The weird thing was that she'd admitted it to Tony and he'd pretty much given them his blessing.

Things were complicated, but Pepper knew that the three of them were doing the best they could to survive. The three of them were working for so much. They had the project. Everyday they worked on that project, the closer they got to changing their lives...to bringing color, life, happiness, beauty, hope, and wonder back into the world that they lived in. Everything would change. Pepper kept reminding herself that they'd change things...people they loved wouldn't die as they had.

"Maybe…"

Bruce pulled her into his arms and started to kiss her face. Pepper knew that they had Tony's blessing with all of this, but two years later she still worried about it and felt a twinge of guilt. She didn't feel like she deserved love…

"Pepper," Bruce whispered before his lips finally covered hers and kissed her passionately.

Her thoughts blew away as her eyes slid closed and she focused on how Bruce was making her feel. His lips started to cover her neck and shoulder in kisses. He was far too good at distracting her. Bruce's hands ran over her bare skin under the sheet as he continued to kiss her.

Things would change.

The project would change it all.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	9. Geronimo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven't recovered from "Arrow"'s Season 3 Premiere.

 

 

**2030 - Science Lab**

 

Felicity was sitting with Jemma and Fitz on one side of the lab, they were running the final tests for the STILL unnamed project. Ever since the incident with Stark, they'd kept their distances Fitz was still black and blue. Everything that they'd been working towards, all of Felicity's hope...it was going to be well worth it.

"I heard that Pepper is the one that they've chosen," Fitz spoke up quietly.

It was odd that it was sort of like two cliques in the lab. Pepper was over near the project with Bruce and Tony and then they were on the other side of the lab. Felicity was just glad that it seemed like things had calmed down and that they were getting things done. They just had to get the project done and to put things back into place...into the way that they were supposed to be…

Her kids.

She kept thinking about how different things WOULD be.

That's what kept her going.

It's what made things easier when she didn't get to see Oliver as much as they would like. She was working long hours and unlike Pepper, Oliver wasn't one to sit around the lab and just hang out (even if he wasn't needed for babysitting). He felt uncomfortable there and he'd told her that it was too hard for him. Felicity missed him, though. At the very least, she could tell herself that they'd have a much better relationship as soon as Pepper went back and fixed everything.

"Pepper? Really?" Jemma asked and seemed surprised. "I was certain that they would have chosen someone with a little more…"

"Experience?" Fitz suggested.

"Someone who was a little more physically violent," Jemma told him. "A trained SHIELD agent...not us, obviously…"

"Like May?"

Jemma shrugged. "She could have done it."

"Does she know all of the side effects?" Felicity questioned.

"She HAS to," Jemma responded. "Coulson and everyone else all received our findings. They wouldn't just choose her and not tell her what she was going to be walking into, right? I mean… It's one thing to volunteer her, but it's another for her to accept the assignment."

Felicity really didn't know who else would be a good choice. She still didn't know many people there. The problem with her or Oliver going back was because they were so far from Starling City. They'd have to take a plane and with the time restriction and the sickness...there was a chance that they'd die before they even made it that far. So much depended upon that person going back. They had to give that person every opportunity to make it work...to pull it off flawlessly.

Pepper wasn't someone that Felicity knew well, but she knew that she'd suffered. In some ways, she felt like they'd lived similar lives… Pepper seemed so much stronger than she felt she was. She also seemed like she'd done so much more with her life… Who else could do it better? She was all for men going out and saving the world in armored suits and leather, but women could do it too...and sometimes...things like this...they were delicate...and sometimes it needed to be a woman.

"She's seen us!" Fitz said quickly. "Look away!"

Apparently none of them had realized that they'd been staring in the direction of Pepper, Tony, and Bruce. It was hard to talk about a person sometimes and NOT look at them. Felicity had found it harder because she was still trying to figure out the woman. She trusted Fitz and Jemma, but she worked with them for the bulk of every day she'd been there. Why wouldn't she trust them? They weren't the type of people who kept secrets...not from people you worked with at least…

They all pretended to go back to what they'd been working on, their backs to an approaching Pepper, but apparently it was too late. She'd seen them and the click of her footfalls were distinctive as they continued to talk about everything they needed to do for their final checks for the project.

Fitz spoke up and tried to sound convincing. He seemed to stumble though, but Felicity and Jemma just kept nodding like he was making perfect and clear sense. "And--and Felicity, you're going to check that the interface--"

"How are you three doing over here?" Pepper asked. They all looked up at her and all three of them started to ramble on about how they were working and weren't staring until Pepper's smile cut them all off. "How's your eye, Leo?" she asked and it was clear that she was concerned as she brushed her fingers alongside his black and blue eye. "You know Tony didn't--"

"I know," Fitz replied quietly. "All is forgiven."

"Are you sure?"

Fitz nodded and then seemed to decide to take the opportunity to ask Pepper their question since she was right there. "So, we heard that you had been chosen to go back."

"Yes," Pepper confirmed. "I still haven't worked out how to make it work, but I will."

"We have faith in you," Jemma told her with confidence.

Pepper smiled. "I keep going over where Tony and I were in two thousand fifteen and keep trying to make sure that I'll be able to get around anything that might come up."

"Not to be a Debbie Downer or anything," Jemma said. "And NOT that we don't have complete confidence in your abilities to complete the mission, but have you thought about a Plan B? In case you can't go? I mean, the location is fixed--"

"Actually no… I think Fury and Coulson felt like it was an all or nothing kind of mission."

"That's understandable, I only bring it up because the point in which a person will go back is FIXED…" Jemma let out a brief laugh. "Like a fixed point in time." Felicity caught the reference and just smiled. "Anyways, I was THINKING that it might be prudent of us to have you and Tony sign a letter… I didn't know if we could reproduce Stark Industries letterhead...or perhaps we have some on file somewhere… But something that says that the holder of that paper would have the whole range of everything Stark Industries at their disposal, no questions asked…"

Felicity thought about what Jemma was saying and it DID make sense. If they were located closer to Starling City, it was something that she would have suggested. She opened her mouth before she fully thought it through. "Actually, I think Jemma's onto something. Whoever goes back, they need to be basically invisible. It might be a good idea to have everyone with a helpful connection to write something similar." She paused for a moment. "Queen Consolidated doesn't have headquarters in New York, but there's still a building there… There might even be a private jet parked there. We never know what's going to happen… It wouldn't hurt to be overly prepared."

"I'll bring that up to Coulson," Pepper told them. "It's smart."

"While you're talking to the director," Jemma said quickly as she put on a face that Felicity had learned was Jemma's 'please please please' face. "Could you suggest that we call the project The TARDIS?"

A smile spread across Felicity's face as Fitz just rolled his eyes in response. "If we do it, we should probably think of a good place to keep them all until The TARDIS is actually used."

Jemma's face lit up. "Oh!" It was like a kid at Christmas. Though, Felicity figured that this was probably the most excitement Jemma or Fitz had experienced since they'd been brought to Avalon. "We could place the letters IN my TARDIS," she told Pepper as she motioned to where the plastic TARDIS sat at her workspace. "The top flips up so you can store things inside."

"We should be storing cookies in there," Fitz complained.

Pepper just continued to smile. "I will talk to Coulson," she told Jemma as she touched her shoulder before walking off.

She wasn't sure how she was going to get her hands on something that was Queen Consolidated, but maybe...just maybe SHIELD had the logo on a drive somewhere that they could access. It was definitely something that she and Oliver could contribute and she was always feeling like they didn't contribute as much as the others, likely because they were the newest ones there. Everyone else had been there for at least two years.

They were going to get their happy ending.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 - Quarters**

 

Felicity was awake. She had wished Oliver was up with her, but then at the same time...she didn't. If they were both awake, she was afraid it would be far too awkward. She wanted to be held, but being this close to Oliver brought out memories and emotions in her that she would rather not remember. It just hurt too much.

Her fingers ran along the perimeter of her locket. It was kept on a long chain, so it mostly remained under her shirts...at least since they'd gone into hiding. She hadn't wanted it stolen. It felt like it was part of another life. She still didn't want to let it go. The locket was rose gold and spherical like a ball. The front and back of it had a flat area, so that it rested flat against her chest. The beveled inset diamonds adorned edges of the front side along with a beautiful script with the name 'Queen' etched diagonally across the middle. Inside were tokens of her life before. The only things that remained of that life.

It had been a wedding gift.

A gift from Oliver.

The memories that she didn't want to think about...the sad and depressing and heartbreaking ones… She kept trying to remind her that things were going to be different soon enough. The last fifteen years of her life would be different. They'd be happy… Felicity knew that it sounded like a dream, but at the same time...she'd seen the science. It was going to happen...and it was going to happen SOON.

Klaxons sounded.

Lights flashed.

An alarm.

Something was wrong.

Felicity sat up almost as quickly as Oliver had. "Something's wrong," she blurt out even though it was blatantly obvious. The question was WHAT was wrong? They both moved to pull on clothes and shoes without another word.

"Sentinels have entered Avalon."

Bile rose up her throat and she barely pushed it back down before looking over at Oliver. She was panicked and terrified, but something about them being together calmed her a little. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet before yanking her out of the room and in the direction of the science lab.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2030 - Science Lab**

 

People were panicking and running everywhere. It was to be expected. This was the first time since the base was commissioned into SHIELD's use in two thousand nineteen that it had been infiltrated by sentinels. They'd managed to remain under the radar for over a decade. They were so close to their project's completion and for their mission to be completed.

They were SO close.

"We're still doing it!" Maria Hill announced as she entered the lab. "FitzSimmons! Make sure that that thing checks out!" She was quiet for a moment as the two scientists moved towards the project. "And Coulson says that we can name it The TARDIS," Maria spoke up a moment later. Felicity didn't miss how sound she seemed to sound. She didn't know WHY anyone would be sad when thinking about the TARDIS, but she was certain that there was a reason...probably an extremely sad one that had to do with the death of someone she had been close to.

Felicity heard Jemma's squeal of delight as she and Fitz started to plug into the project that was now codenamed The TARDIS. If they'd had more time, Felicity knew that Jemma would be ready to paint the thing the proper color blue. After all, it would be nice for everything to be right. "What can I do?" Felicity asked as she approached them.

A different kind of alarm sounded and Felicity looked back to where Oliver was standing. She wondered if he thought the same things. If he remembered all the horrible times in their lives that had involved sentinels. If he remembered that sentinels were controlled by people...evil people...the same evil people that were responsible for murdering their children and so many others around the world.

"We got to work quickly," Fitz said. He took Felicity's hand and guided it. "Hold here."

"Queen! We could use help securing the bunker!" Maria barked to Oliver.

Felicity looked over her shoulder to see him nod to Maria before looking back to her. "I'll be right back," he promised her.

She just nodded and tried to keep from panicking. Oliver was the last thing she had in that whole world. She couldn't lose him. Felicity turned her attention back to what Fitz had instructed her to do and kept the tears at bay. He was coming back became her internal mantra. Oliver didn't lie to her.

Pepper and Tony were in the lab, trying to ensure that everything was ready. "Are we sure it'll work NOW?" she asked and looked from Tony and then to them. She obviously wanted to make sure that no one was going to tell her something conflicting.

"It will, yes," Fitz replied before anyone else could. "But if we're going to do this, we need to do it before Avalon is breached any further or else we risk damage to the project or possibly having the power being cut to this section."

"We DO need the power," Tony said.

"We should secure the lab and send you now," Jemma added.

Felicity just stared at them all. They were doing it NOW? This was IT? Part of her wanted to shout that they better barricade the door immediately then, but another part of her didn't want to send Pepper until she could see Oliver again. Sending Pepper meant that their whole past, present, and future would change...for the better… She just felt like they needed a goodbye. "Now?"

"Now," Fitz confirmed.

She watched as Pepper and Tony seemed to be saying their goodbyes and just tried to focus on working with Fitz and Jemma. Oliver promised to come back. He didn't lie to her. He didn't. He would be back. She'd get her goodbye.

So, they worked on preparing the project...The TARDIS. Everything was powered on and looked to be working right. Jemma had moved her little TARDIS over, so that the letters wouldn't be forgotten by Pepper. They'd done the best they could for the letters with what they had. Felicity just hoped that it was enough. Pepper didn't think she'd actually use them, but it was good to have on hand just the same.

The door to the lab had been locked and a table had been pushed in front of it. It wasn't a lot, but it was what they could spare. Which when the sound of the door being slammed into echoed through the room, they pretty much all jumped. Felicity looked around worriedly. None of them even had a weapon. She supposed that it was possible that Tony's JARVIS might have some sort of weapon, but she doubted it. Not with how Tony acted randomly.

"Let us in!" Maria Hill shouted as the door was pounded on.

"Hurry!" Fitz yelled. They were all moving the table and opening the door before pushing the table back towards the door. The repositioning came to a quick halt when shots were fired into the room. Instead, everyone scrambled for cover.

"Get down!" Maria yelled as she returned fire.

There was a loud rumbling and it felt like an earthquake and then suddenly Felicity found herself staring at rather large green legs. She looked up and realized that Bruce was currently in Hulk form. She'd heard all about it, but this was the first time she was witnessing it. Sweet and intelligent Bruce...he had a freaking crazy terrifying side. He let out a roar and Felicity pushed herself farther under the table she was hiding under.

"Sentinels!!!" Oliver shouted as he slid into the room.

Felicity was shocked to see Oliver with a loaded bow and a quiver on his back. He was firing arrows as Maria Hill took shots and the Hulk ran back out into the hallway. He'd come back, she thought. Oliver had promised and now here he was. She caught him searching the room for her and in that moment, the moment their eyes met, Felicity watched in horror as Oliver was shot. "Oliver!" she screamed. He was right in the line of fire and she couldn't just hide and not do anything. Felicity pushed herself to her feet once she was free of her hiding spot, she grabbed Oliver, and dragged him out of the line of fire.

The Hulk continued to rage, but shots were still being fired into the lab and she suddenly realized that Fitz and Jemma were saying something. She turned to take in the room, to see where everyone was, and she could barely contain a sob that bubbled up within her. Fear and anger hit her as she looked at the lifeless bodies of Maria Hill, Tony Stark, and Pepper Stark. She looked down at Oliver, he was still alive, but he wouldn't be for long. He was dying. Felicity let the sobs come out for a moment as his hand brushed against her cheek.

"My brave girl," Oliver whispered with a smile.

"We failed--"

"Go."

"Oliver--"

"Oliver--"

“Felicity! You have to go!” Fitz shouted from his hiding place with Jemma.

“Go,” Oliver told her. “You haven’t failed, not yet, Felicity…”

“Felicity! You have to be The Doctor!” Jemma added a moment later before she let out a scream when the incoming fire hit far too close to them.

“I can’t leave you,” she whispered through tears as she looked back down at her dying husband in her arms. Felicity just couldn’t leave him. Maybe this wasn’t the end—

“You have to,” he pushed out with difficulty as his eyes slid closed.

“Oliver!”

His eyes slid back open and he looked like he was trying to focus. “You go!” he told her. “You have to! You have to save them! Save ALL of us!” He paused and was incredibly quiet. “I believe in you.”

Suddenly, the memories that haunted her flooded her mind as the hum of the sentinels nearly took over everything except her focus on Oliver. They were all going to die if she didn’t do something, all of this was going to be in vain… All for nothing. She couldn’t let that happen.

“You’re the Oracle,” Oliver whispered. “Go back and BE the Oracle… Make sure that Tommy and Maddie live long lives… Think about John…Lyla…Andy…Ben…Sara…Presley…and every other person and child who’s died since the sentinels destroyed our world…”

She knew he was right.

Felicity still didn’t want to go. She nodded and leaned down to kiss him one last time. “Goodbye, my love,” she whispered against his lips as more tears fell. Felicity pushed out everything else as she got up, grabbing the quiver and slinging it over her shoulder. She strung an arrow on the bow string and started to back her way across the room to The TARDIS. An arrow wasn’t going to do much against sentinels, but she could STILL hear the Hulk out there…and she felt like she was doing something.

“Thank you,” she heard Jemma say as she grabbed the entire TARDIS, not worrying about just taking the letters with her.

“Thank you and…goodbye,” she whispered before turning to the machine. She pressed the button and a portal started to open. Felicity sucked in one last breath and thought about everything that had to change. She focused on a happy moment from her past before moving forward. “Geronimo.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	10. Borrowed Time

 

 

**2015 - Starling City**

 

There was no time.

The effects that she KNEW would come, they'd hit her immediately when she'd appeared in two thousand fifteen. So far, she had been managing, but Felicity was certain that part of that was her determination not to fail...the thoughts that she used to motivate her to push herself and continue. Felicity felt so weak, but she knew that she was stronger...

During her flight from New York to Starling City, all she’d done was think about what she was going to say and how she was going to convince herself…or anyone. She wouldn’t have the time to make sure that she could get herself alone. If Oliver or Diggle or Sara were there, then THAT was who she was going to have to convince. There was no being choosey and she KNEW that she could trust any one of them to do it. They all had futures at stake…children…and Felicity KNEW that none of them wanted to go through the pain or horrors that she had faced and that still haunted her. They HAD to know, though, so she'd written a letter addressed to herself. It was all she could do to focus on the plane and to make sure that she wouldn't forget anything when she actually made it to the Foundry.

She was almost in awe as she was taxied through the city. It had been SO LONG since Starling City had looked like this. It was night and the city was lit up and it was breathtaking and beautiful. She never remembered it being so beautiful. It was so odd, how much you took for granted…until it was taken away from you.

“Are you sure this is the place?”

“I’m sure,” Felicity told him and was thankful that she didn’t have to worry about money. The Stark’s private jet staff had made sure that a car was waiting when she arrived and there would be no worrying about a taxi driver, this man actually worked for Stark Industries. She waited until they drove off before she turned to Verdant. She just hoped that her codes would work and she’d be able to get in. Felicity was fairly sure, and from what she could see it seemed to confirm it, that Verdant was closed at the moment. Thea was gone from Starling City.

“Please believe me,” she whispered to herself as she nervously stared up at the sign.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - Foundry**

 

It had taken her a while to actually go in, but then she’d reminded herself that she didn’t have much time. She was practically on borrowed time as it was. Slowly, she’d gone down into the Foundry, the codes had worked to get her in and everything. Her hair was down, in an effort to conceal herself while outside in the world. She had to be careful. When she’d first gone down the steps, she’d thought that she was the only one there. The lighting was dim and it just screamed that no one was working. Felicity had immediately thought that that was odd and then she’d seen him.

Oliver.

He was dressed in his green leather, but no mask or hood. When he turned to her, he seemed surprised. Felicity wasn’t sure exactly what kind of surprise, but she knew she was about to find out. He looked so young…so happy…and so…God, she missed him. Tears started to push through as she thought about HER Oliver and how he’d just been dying in her arms hours before.

“Hey,” Oliver said as he started to walk towards her. “I thought you were in Central City until tomorrow night?”

“I—I decided to come back early,” she lied.

Central City.

Barry Allen.

She couldn’t remember WHY exactly she would have been there this time. Was it for romantic reasons or because Barry was her friend? Or was it something else? None of it mattered, she supposed, what mattered was that she needed to convince Oliver. Felicity didn't know WHY she was lying, maybe she just wasn't ready to let go of the way he was smiling at her.

"You look--"

"Old?" she filled in with a slight smile.

He seemed confused at that. Felicity knew that she couldn't keep it from him. She didn't have the time, no matter how much she wanted to savor this time with him. No matter how jealous she suddenly was of her younger self. This wasn't really HER Oliver, Felicity had to remind herself. That thought brought tears and she bowed her head because it was all a little too overwhelming.

"Hey," he whispered as he closed the distance between them and took her face in his hands. Her tear filled eyes met his and she could see something in him, like he KNEW that she wasn't his Felicity. So, she waited. She waited to see his reaction. "I--I--" He took a breath. "You look...different…"

"Do you trust me?" she asked.

Long ago, so much longer for her, she remembered meeting him in the coffee shop and handing over the book of names that Walter had given her. No matter the lies that he'd tried to convince her were truth, she'd trusted him. She didn't know the reason then, but she hoped that he'd feel the same way now. It was obvious that he KNEW that something wasn't right...but she NEEDED him to trust her now. Everything depended on it.

"Yes, but--"

"But I'm not your Felicity," she said slowly. Her hand ran along the side of his face. "And you're not my Oliver...but I miss you so much already," Felicity said as she stared at him with tears in her eyes. Fifteen years. He didn't know any of the horrors or any of the hell that they'd lived through and here she was about to drop it all on him. For a moment, she felt like she couldn't do it. She KNEW Oliver and she knew that the last thing that he really needed was this weight on him. He carried so much and blamed himself for so much that had already happened in his life…

"How are you not my Felicity?" he asked slowly and still seemed confused.

"I am, but I'm not," she told him and knew that that didn't clear up any of the confusion. "I came from twenty-thirty. I came back here to talk to myself...to warn her...to warn all of you of what cannot happen…"

"That's--"

"Science fiction?" Felicity asked and beamed at him. "There's a lot of that in the future…"

"What happens that would make you do this?"

"I wasn't supposed to be the one," Felicity admitted. "And I don't have a lot of time…" She brushed the tears away. He had to know. He had to understand. She had to be clear and he needed to know that she was serious about not having the time. "I'm dying, Oliver."

"What?"

And it was like she'd broken his heart. His eyes went wide and he gripped her arms, his height slouched a bit so that they were eye to eye. "No… I can call Digg--"

"You have NO idea how much I'd love to see John," she whispered through tears. "But it has to happen. It's not good for me to be here. It's not good for her…" She paused for a moment. "I was never supposed to come back because where I appeared at was too far...which is why I have no time," she tried to explain as calmly as possible. "Everyone died. I left you...dying...bleeding...and you were all I had left. Even IF John could do something, I wouldn't want him to… My whole world...my life...my family...they're gone," Felicity told him through tears. "I don't want anyone to ever have to go through that again, so I need you to listen closely. I need you to not ask questions. I need you to believe me." He was wiping tears away and she couldn't help it, she flung herself at him and held onto him for dear life. "I need you to FIGHT for our future," she whispered as his arms wrapped around her.

Her system was definitely done. Felicity was just thankful that she didn't need to worry about contaminating everyone she'd come into contact with. She'd been in the lab and knew the side effects and she knew that the radiation was a kind that she didn't have to worry about. FitzSimmons had done their whole finishing each other's sentence thing at warp speed and Felicity had gotten the gist of it. She wouldn't spread it and it would have been killed by the time she made it to two thousand fifteen, but her body would still be dying from the effects of the radiation poisoning.

"I'll do whatever you need me to do," Oliver whispered.

Felicity's eyes squeezed shut and she held him tighter for a moment. She really didn't want to let him go, but by how her body felt, she knew she didn't have much time. The clock was ticking. Felicity reluctantly pulled away and took a step back.

"I thought you were in Central City?"

John's voice brought her a mix of emotions. It had been too long. He was someone that she'd never been able to say goodbye to. She turned to look at him and being back there with both of them in the Foundry, that she'd almost forgotten what it looked like back then, it was just too much. "John--"

The world spun and no other words followed. She was caught before she could hit the floor. Oliver and Diggle were staying at her as the edges of her world turned black. Was this it? Had she failed? Would they find the letter? Would they look over her body? Would they open her locket? Would they realize how important her journey there had been? Would everything change?

Would--

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - Foundry**

 

"She's not OUR Felicity, Oliver! What if she's not even Felicity?" she heard John ask as she lie still with her eyes closed. "She's got a SHIELD logo on her jacket."

"And you said that SHIELD wasn't necessarily bad guys."

"Well, the ones that work for Hydra are!"

"It's Felicity!"

"Oliver--"

"She's DYING! Why are we even arguing about this?" Oliver questioned.

She hated that she was the reason that they were fighting, but she didn't feel like she could even move her hand. Felicity found it difficult to even open her eyelids. She blinked at first, but her vision cleared and she turned her head in the direction of their arguing. "Don't--"

"Hey," Oliver said softly and he was standing at her bedside a moment later. "We're here… You're safe…"

"For the first time in te-ten years…" she told him with a smile. Felicity looked past him and looked to Diggle. She understood his concern that maybe she was a spy or some sort of maybe shapeshifter...but she wasn't. She was dying and she just needed to give her message. That was it. Pain hit her and she cringed as her eyes slammed shut for a moment until it passed. "I--I don't have much time…"

A phone rang and Diggle picked it up, holding the face of the phone in his direction. "It's Barry, Oliver."

"You take it," Oliver told him.

Diggle didn't look pleased, but he answered it and walked away.

"I'm sorry," Felicity blurted out.

"You didn't do--"

"I'm here," Felicity told him and closed her eyes. "But not for long."

"Don't say that…"

She smiled. God, how she missed Oliver… Felicity really wasn't sure how she felt about the whole dying thing and where you ended up...but she liked to think that she'd be with Oliver and their children. Oh God, her children. This was why she was there. Tommy and Madelyn. Those were HER reasons for being there. Her smile faded and she tried to will her arm to move, but when she brushed against her torso, she realized that they'd removed her jacket. "Letter…"

"Letter?"

Felicity's eyes opened as tears filled them. "Promise me something, Oliver."

She knew he would.

"Promise me three things," she practically begged as all she could think about right now was failing her mission and the murder of her children.

"Name them," he whispered.

"One," she pushed out. Felicity closed her eyes again. "Give Felicity...YOUR Felicity...the letter from my jacket...and my locket," she instructed as she managed to pull the chain from her shirt the best that she could. Felicity's fingers wrapped around the chain and just held onto it. It was the last of what had been such happy times for her, it was almost hard to think of giving it up...even if she was going to be giving it to herself. At least he'd KNOW where it was. Taking a moment, she focused on breathing. "It's for her eyes...not yours."

"Felicity--"

"Two." Felicity wasn't sure if her younger self would keep it to herself, but she knew that then it would be HER choice to put that weight on him...to share it. "Be happy, Oliver… Don't push us away… Fight for us. Fight for your future…" Tears fell from her closed eyes as she thought about how happy they'd once been. Her voice dropped, so that she could barely hear it in her own ears. "It's beautiful, I promise you that…"

His breathing told her that he was likely crying and he probably realized that her end was near. Oliver's hand covered hers and he squeezed lightly. It was nice to know that at least she wouldn't die alone. Even if he wasn't HER Oliver, he was still an Oliver that she remembered and loved...and he would ensure that her hope lived on far beyond her death.

"Three," she breathed and found it hard to push the words out. "Don't let her see me…" It might be stupid, but of all the nightmares that she'd faced. Felicity didn't think that her younger self needed to see her dead on the table. No one needed that image, that was enough of a weight that she was going to be forcing on Oliver and Diggle. Felicity remembered how she used to see the world and she would hate to think that she was darken that world any more for her so early on. "She has so much to live for… She has you…"

"Oliver, Felicity's really sick--" Diggle said.

"Because of me…" she whispered. Felicity smiled as she thought that she'd done what she'd set out to. She'd completed her mission. She hadn't failed. "But not for long…"

"Have Barry bring her home."

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	11. Tomorrow

 

 

**2015 - Starling City**

 

"Did you open it?"

"No."

"But you WANT to."

"Don't you?"

"What do we do with her body?"

Barry.

Oliver.

Diggle.

Their voices filtered into her brain before she realized that they all shouldn't be there. Barry should. Felicity realized that she should be in Central City, she remembered that. She'd gone there to help Barry with something… Felicity couldn't quite remember WHAT, but she remembered that she'd gone to help…It was nagging at her though, Barry sounded upset and Diggle and Oliver just didn't sound right.

Her eyes opened and she was even more confused. Felicity was in the Foundry, which meant Starling City...which wasn't one city over or anything. She was in Oliver's bed, the bed that she'd bought him for the Foundry so he wasn't sleeping on the floor. Felicity just didn't know WHY she was back in Starling and in Oliver's bed. She went to move, to sit up, so she could get out of bed and go talk to the guys. Movement though, brought on a good deal of pain. Felicity felt sore and tender all over, like she was bruised from head to toe, like she'd been in a car accident. She pushed aside the blanket and looked at her arm, but it wasn't bruised. Slowly, she sat up and took her time moving. The pain and the confusion took over her focus and the voices were just background murmurs. Felicity had thought about calling out, but she didn't want to alarm them. Breathing helped and moving slowly.

Eventually, she managed to get to her feet and to find her glasses. She was dressed in her pajamas, which she didn't remember changing into. Felicity was starting to wonder if she'd drank something...or...okay, so she really couldn't think of a good reason that she couldn't remember what had happened or how she was in the Foundry or how she was in her pajamas… She'd been with Barry, after all, nothing weird should have happened...at least, she didn't think THIS weird. Seeking answers, she moved from the room and towards the sounds of their voices.

"Maybe we should check on her," Barry said. "It's been a while…"

"Felicity's a big girl, she'll find her way out here," Diggle responded.

"Maybe Barry's right," Oliver spoke up.

Felicity smiled as she continued her slow journey towards the command center of the Foundry, which was where she assumed they were. "Is it Saturday?" Felicity questioned.

"No," Barry said too quickly. "It's Friday."

She didn't miss the glare between that Oliver sent Barry's way. "Oh-kay… Pretty sure that I was going to come back...ALONE...on Saturday...and the last thing I remember I was in Central City… So," Felicity said slowly and paused for a moment. "What's going on?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"We were working on a project…" she said, but couldn't remember the specifics. It was all a blur. Felicity didn't remember it being dangerous and obviously she had been in good company.

"How about the pain?"

"What happened?" Felicity asked slowly and with emphasis on each word. She wanted answers and less questions. She had NO idea what had happened and Barry's questions were making her a little too nervous. Felicity watched all three of them, just waiting. They knew something, she could tell.

"Are you hurting?" Diggle asked.

"Yes," she responded and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked between them. "But that doesn't answer my question…"

"We WERE in Central City," Barry spoke up. "We were working and then suddenly you started to feel sick…you were throwing up. At first, we thought it was food poisoning, but then you started to have really intense pain…" He paused as he stared at her. "You don't remember any of it?"

Felicity shook her head and brought her fingers up to her mouth as she tried to remember what he was saying. Her head spun and she felt a little sick that she couldn't remember that. "I don't… I--" Her voice broke, but she pushed on. "What's wrong with me?"

"NOTHING'S wrong with you," Barry tried to assure her.

She noticed the look that Barry was now giving Oliver. They weren't telling her everything. "What happened?"

"I--"

"You've got to tell her, Oliver," Diggle spoke up.

Oliver seemed pissed now. Felicity didn't know why. He normally didn't keep secrets from her, especially when they involved her. "Not now," Oliver practically growled.

"Diggle's right," Barry said.

"I didn't ask for your opinion!" Oliver snapped at Barry.

It was scaring her even more. If Oliver was acting like this, then she KNEW that it had to be bad. She couldn't stop the tears that started to fall and she turned away from them. "I don't know what you're keeping from me...but I WANT to know," she said as she turned back to them. Her hand fell back to her side and she moved to close the distance between her and Oliver, since she knew that HE was the one who was really keeping the lid on whatever he didn't feel like she needed to know yet.

"You--" He turned his head to the side. His voice got softer, gentler. "You just woke up…"

"Oliver! Please! Just tell me!"

"Felicity--"

"You're scaring me!" she told him. Her eyes were on his and she didn't let him look away. She needed to know what had happened. She needed to understand. She needed to fill in the blank gaps.

"I can't explain it to you," Oliver told her and looked down.

Felicity followed his movements as he removed items from his pocket. He pushed them into her hands. "What's this?" she asked as she looked back up into his eyes for answers.

"This...this will explain things," Oliver told her. His hands were still on hers as he held them there for a moment. "I was told, this is just for your eyes…" he said. Felicity stared at him, still questioning. "You'll see…"

In her hands was an envelope with her name on it, in what looked like her handwriting, and a weighty locket. She didn't stare at them for details because the guys immediately seemed to be scattering. "Where-- What are you doing?"

"I'm going to patrol," Oliver told her. "I can't be here...not right now…"

"I should go home… Lyla… Andy… I promised I'd be home for dinner and I'm already late," Diggle told them.

Barry looked confused. "Well, I guess you need space...you know...to read that," he said as he awkwardly motioned to Felicity. "I'm just going to sit over at your computer and listen to the police radio…"

"You guys are really not going to tell me anything else?" Felicity asked as she held up the letter in her hand.

"We're going to all be right here once you're finished reading it, Felicity," Oliver said. His voice was quiet and gentle. "Except for Diggle...because...well, let's be honest...none of us want Lyla's wrath to fall upon us."

"Exactly! NONE of us!" Diggle said. "You can call me if you need me, Felicity."

Felicity smiled as Diggle hugged her, she held onto him for a moment and was happy to know that even though he was going to be gone...she could still call him. "Night John." Oliver disappeared and Barry just smiled at her and nodded.

"It's going to be fine," Barry said far too confidently.

Nodding, she let out a sigh and looked down at the items in her hands. Felicity motioned towards Oliver's bedroom. "I'm just going to go back in there and read then…"

Barry motioned to the computer he was now sitting by. "I'm just going to be you...while you do that…"

Uneasy.

The word was right, but it didn't exactly seem fitting. It wasn't a strong enough word. She lingered for a moment and then headed into the room that Oliver now slept in in the Foundry. Felicity sat on the bed and pulled in a deep breath. She wanted to look at the locket first, but she had a feeling that it didn't contain as many answers as the envelope held so she set it aside for now. The envelope felt thick and the familiar handwriting still nagged at her. It was her handwriting, she was certain, and it was her name. She didn't remember writing her name on an envelope…

"Just open it, Felicity," she whispered to herself as her hand shook. She wished that she wasn't alone, but at the same time...it was nice to be able to be terrified of what was held inside of the envelope and not try to cover the emotions from the guys. Felicity hated being the damsel in distress, especially when it was just a piece of folded paper. Her finger pushed along the envelope seal and she tried to steady her emotions. She didn't understand how she could be so emotionally compromised when she didn't even know what was inside of the envelope. Felicity swore it was just a feeling that she was getting from the envelope itself. There was something wrong…

Opening the envelope, she pulled out the folded pieces of paper. Felicity straightened them as she set the envelope aside. Her writing. It was the first thing that hit her when she opened the paper. The letter was in her writing...and then she started reading it, slowly and with far too much confusion.

 

_Felicity Smoak,_

_I imagine you reading this and having an overwhelming mix of concern, confusion, and curiosity as you read your own handwriting, but don't remember writing it. You haven't written this yet and hopefully you will never have to. I came back from 2030 to keep you, Oliver, John, and all the rest of the people that we hold dear safe. I know that by even coming back and writing this to you that I may have changed how things turn out, but SHIELD wouldn't have worked so hard to get me here if there wasn't a good reason._

_I'm called the Oracle. I never found it especially fitting until now. I guess I was always the one that saw ahead when Team Arrow still did things, but now… Now it seems quite appropriate, like I'm fulfilling some destiny. Now, you need to take up the title and hold true to the name. I'm giving you the message, now make it right, Felicity._

_They're called sentinels and they kill everything. Oliver, our children, John and his family, Sara and her family, everyone that we hold dear. Over 200 children were massacred in one day in 2028, but so many more have been killed since they were constructed in 2019. At first, it was innocent enough but then it snowballed out of control. The government turned completely evil and entire cities were destroyed. The Starling City I left behind was destroyed and I never realized how much it had become home._

_There are people who helped me get this message to you. People who gave their lives and whose help you'll need. They were all with SHIELD when I met them, but they might not be in 2015._

_Nick Fury_   
_Phil Couslon_   
_Maria Hill_   
_Tony Stark_   
_Pepper Stark_   
_Bruce Banner_   
_Leo Fitz_   
_Jemma Simmons_

_I know that this can all be difficult for you to take in. It seems crazy and unfathomable, but it's all true. Both of my children died in my arms… Oliver was bleeding to death in my arms before I got here, he risked everything to keep me safe and to make sure that I someone came back to fix things. You don't want the hell that I've lived through. The last two years, the only things that have kept me going is Oliver and hoping that we could change things. Please don't make my death one that was made in vain, I will die knowing that Oliver and our children will live now...because you'll do what has to be done._

_You're stronger than you think._

_The creator of the sentinels is Doctor Bolivar Trask. He's an anthropologist, which I know seems like an odd profession for the creator of destructive robots, but it's the correct information. You need to convince Oliver and Team Arrow of this, telling them as much as you think necessary. What you tell them, especially Oliver may alter your future. He needs you, Felicity, even if he tries to act like he can do it on his own. You all need to reach out to those people and work to keep the Sentinel Program from becoming into reality._

_It's a lot. Too much. You still have to do it. You CAN do it._

_If you're reading this and I didn't tell you it all myself, it's because I've died from the radiation side effects from coming here. My body should be destroyed. Before you do, there was a TARDIS that I was carrying letters that practically everyone on that list wrote, in case we needed to access their company or group's assets to get me here. I used Stark Industries' private jet and they had a car bring me to Verdant. You can use those as proof if the people on this list don't believe you. Keep this letter, it might come to be helpful as well._

_I hope that my presence here wasn't too hard on you. I know that you must have experienced tremendous pain, but now you understand WHY I had to put you through it. Making sure that you received this...that you changed things...that's worth it for both of us._

_Please do not let our deaths be in vain. I know you won't. Believe in yourself._

_Felicity Queen_

 

Tears hit the letter and Felicity reached up to touch her face. She hadn't even realized that she was crying. It all sounded crazy and she was having a hard time really being convinced of what was written in the letter. Had she really come back from the future? Had she come back in order to save them all from what sounded like hell? Felicity refolded the letter paper and tucked it back into the envelope that she'd set aside. She held the locket in her hands, but couldn't bring her to open it just yet. The letter, at the moment, was enough for her to process.

Getting to her feet, she took the locket and letter with her as she headed out of the bedroom and into the command center area of the Foundry. She found Barry at the computer, waiting. He was smiling brightly, but he normally was. It was enough to bring a small smile to her face as if it was contagious.

"You okay?" Barry asked. She could tell that he was honestly concerned and Felicity knew that between him and Oliver, that it was Barry that she could handle discussing it with at the moment.

"No," she whispered. Felicity held up the letter. "Me...she…" she rambled as her emotions took hold again. "Did you--"

"She was gone when I got here," he explained sadly.

"But you SAW her?"

Barry nodded. "I almost wish I could unsee her."

"She said that she was from twenty-thirty," Felicity told him.

He nodded again. "Oliver told me...while you were out."

"What else did he say?"

"Just that she told him that she was trying to fix things in the future and that apparently everyone died to make sure we got the message you have," Barry told her.

Felicity could tell that he WAS telling the truth. He wasn't keeping something from her. "Do you think I could see her?" She didn't even know WHY she wanted to see the body. Felicity KNEW that she was dead, but she thought that maybe it would be more convincing...

"Oliver said that SHE didn't want you to see her body," Barry said slowly. "I have to say I agree…" His eyes were pleading with her now. "Please Felicity, didn't the letter and locket hold enough evidence?"

"I haven't looked at the locket yet," she admitted and held it up. "It's heavy though…"

"What about the letter?"

"I...don't...know…" Felicity drug out. It wasn't that she didn't believe it, okay maybe she didn't. She really still wasn't sure what to think about it all. It was just a lot and a lot of it was just...out there. "It's just A LOT to really take in," she admitted.

"What did it say?"

She remembered what the letter said, she needed to tell them only what she THOUGHT they needed to know. Right now, Felicity wasn't sure WHAT to say.

"It's okay," Barry said. He seemed to sense her reluctance. Barry had always been one that was good about not pushing. "Maybe tomorrow."

Nodding, Felicity rolled the other chair so that it was next to Barry. It wasn't that she couldn't talk to Oliver about this, she just felt like she needed to breathe and think first. She needed the time to really take in what she'd just read. Barry, though he was a good friend and she cared about him, they had less history and less tension at the moment...plus, he was a good listener. There was also the bonus of her and Barry being closer on wavelengths, the two of them had clicked the day she'd met him. He was just a good friend and with Diggle home with Lyla, Barry was the best to talk to. And as much as she didn't want to talk about the letter yet, she needed to talk. "Do you think it's possible?"

Barry beamed at her. "Do you need me to just reinforce the fact that you're not crazy?" he asked and then paused for a moment. "After everything that you've seen, I know that you can't possibly be questioning it."

Felicity sat down with a sigh. "Something like that."

"What about the locket?" he asked. "Do you want to wait?"

In all honesty, Felicity didn't know what she wanted. She let the envelope rest in her lap as she held the lock in the palms of her hands. It was beautiful, it was white gold and almost felt like a small ball in her hands. The edges had diamonds that rounded it and across the center in elegant script 'Queen' was engraved.

"Does that say--"

"Queen?" Felicity finished and then nodded. "Apparently in twenty-thirty, I'm Felicity Queen."

"Well, I can't say that I'm surprised," Barry blurted out.

Opening the locket, she was surprised by what popped out. Four rings fell into her open hand. One was obviously a men's ring, it was rose gold with a hammered texture all over. One ring was obviously a woman's, rose gold with a larger diamond in the middle and smaller ones along the sides. The other two were much thinner simple rose gold bands that Felicity figured were intended to go on either side of the diamond band. She just stared at them for a moment and realized that they had to be the reason for the weight and had to have been perfectly placed inside of the locket.

"Wow," Barry whispered.

For a moment, she thought about slipping on the three bands. Felicity was a little uncomfortable doing it in front of Barry though. "Yeah," she mumbled. Felicity turned her attention to the locket and opened it all the way with her thumb. Inside were two pictures: one was a picture of her and Oliver on their wedding day and the other one was a picture of them with a boy and a little girl. Her eyes filled with tears again as she thought about those two children dying in her arms.

"Felicity?"

"She had two children...each person in her family died in her arms," Felicity explained without looking at him, not really thinking about anything but explaining why she was suddenly crying.

They were both quiet for a few minutes before Barry spoke up again. "Can I see it?"

Nodding, Felicity handed him the locket, but held tight to the rings. She still didn't entirely know how to feel about...well, everything. She watched as Barry looked at the pictures and wondered what he was thinking about.

"You...SHE looks happy," Barry pointed out. "They ALL do…"

He was right. They all had looked really happy.

"There's an engraving on the back, too," Barry said as he closed the locket and turned it over in his hands. "Oracle…"

"What did you say?" she asked quickly. Felicity hadn't noticed that there was a second engraving. What she heard couldn't have been right.

"It says Oracle."

Felicity held out her hand for the locket. When Barry set it back in her hand, Felicity saw the engraving on the back that she'd missed. "That's what they called her…"

"Like the Arrow?"

Felicity nodded.

"Cool!"

"Cool?"

Barry nodded. "Any if you think about it, it really IS fitting."

"Sort of creeps me out, actually," Felicity admitted.

Barry looked at her sympathetically. "Felicity, I think once you have some time to REALLY think about it...it won't freak you out so much."

Felicity sucked in a breath and then nodded. She put the rings carefully back into the locket. "I think I just need some time to think about all of this...alone," she told him as she got up from the chair. Felicity was about to go when she realized that there were still those letters she needed to locate. "There's a set of letters that people wrote in the future that I need," Felicity explained. "She said it was in a TARDIS."

"I saw one," Barry said as he got up from the chair. "I just thought you guys were decorating this place a bit more." He moved towards the stairs and then grabbed it before turning arounding with it. He didn't hesitate handing it over to her.

"These letters are supposed to help me convince people that I'm telling the truth," Felicity explained as she popped the top and revealed more letters. She added the letter from her future self in the TARDIS. "This is pretty fitting, right?"

Barry smiled and nodded. "Were you the one that chose the TARDIS?"

"I don't think so."

"Well, you have a list of people, right? One of those people had to be behind that brilliant idea."

Felicity just nodded. She was almost tempted to talk to Barry about the letter, but sleeping on it sounded like a better plan. "Will you please tell Oliver that I went home and that I'll talk to him tomorrow?"

"Your car isn't here?" he reminded.

Felicity let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead. "I forgot…"

"I also REALLY don't feel okay with you driving after everything that's happened today. I could take you home."

"Oliver's out there--"

"I'll let him know and if he REALLY needs me, then he can call me," Barry told her. He flashed a smile. "Plus, it's not going to take me long."

"Good point," Felicity said and thought about it for a moment. "And what are we going to do about my car?"

"I was going to call Cisco or Caitlin in the morning and see if one of them would drive here," Barry explained. "And I was kind of hoping to crash on your couch later...though I understand if it'll feel like I'm crowding you."

"No," Felicity said quickly. She knew that that meant that he'd probably get there after she was asleep and it would be kind of nice to know that she wouldn't be completely alone. "You can stay...and I'd appreciate any way to get my car back to Starling City."

"Let me just tell Oliver then," Barry told her.

Felicity nodded and held the TARDIS and locket as she waited. She watched as Barry radioed Oliver and told him what was going on. Sucking in a deep breath, she tried to keep calm. Felicity knew that once she was home that she could relax or cry or eat ice cream or anything else that might feel right...in order to feel better.

Tomorrow would be better.

Tomorrow.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	12. Oracle

 

 

**2015 - Felicity’s Home**

 

Felicity had hoped that going home and being able to really process what was going on…what had happened…that it would help. So far, it hadn’t. She’d even re-read the letter and she’d read the letters in the TARDIS. There had been a letter that Oliver had written on behalf of Queen Consolidated and they’d both signed it. No matter how many times she saw it, it was so weird to see her last name signed ‘Queen’. She’d looked up Stark Industries and had found out that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts (who was not yet Stark) were both located at Stark Tower in New York. Felicity really wasn’t sure that she would actually actively seek them out, but it was sort of nice to know that they were REAL people. Finding the others seemed to be more difficult. She’d searched for SHIELD and there were all kinds of articles on the group, but it looked like it like SHIELD had been infiltrated for it seemed like forever by another group called Hydra (which was all bad guys) and now it was dispersed. Maria Hill, though, her name had popped up. She worked for Tony and Pepper in New York. Fury’s name also popped up, apparently he was supposed to be dead. Felicity knew better.

What to do with all of it, though?

Could she change things?

Would it matter?

There was a knock at her door and she sighed. Felicity figured it was likely Oliver or Diggle coming to check up on her. Barry was gone when she woke up and came out after her shower, she figured that he was just trying to give her space though. She got up and headed for the door. She really wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to someone though. She knew with Diggle or even Barry that they wouldn’t pressure her…or she just wouldn’t FEEL the pressure was more like it. But Oliver, there was just so much in just that letter to…herself…that she still just couldn’t come to terms with.

Drawing in a breath as her hand rested on the knob, Felicity tried to clear her head and calm down before she turned it and opened the door. “Sara,” she said rather shocked.

“Is this a bad time?”

“Uh,” Felicity responded and really didn’t know what to say to that. “No… No, I guess not.” She motioned for Sara to enter and then closed the door behind her. “I thought you weren’t going to be back for—“

“I called to check in and it sounded like I was more needed back here,” Sara explained. “Though Diggle would’t give me any information other than you were really sick…and that Oliver was in a mood. You look okay to me.” Sara paused for a moment and tilted her head from one side and then to the other. “And Oliver…is…well, Oliver…and I know how he gets…”

She followed Sara over to the couch and the two of them sat down. Felicity relaxed for a moment, closed her eyes, and then asked the question…because it had to be asked. “What else did they say?”

“That there was a second you…from the future…that she died bringing back some kind of message and that they’re worried about you,” Sara told her slowly. “I think the only thing that’s keeping Oliver from going into super jealousy mode over you—“

Felicity’s mouth dropped open and blush filled her cheeks. Her hand reached up and covered her one cheek before turning to the side, so Sara couldn’t see her face.

Sara laughed. “It’s obvious, Felicity… He loves you. Though, I can see why he’s jealous… That Barry Allen kid…he’s not only a hero, but he’s got a superpower…and he’s brilliant.”

“Barry’s a good friend.”

“That’s how it starts…”

Sara was right. Of course she was right. That’s how it started between her and Oliver. Tears flooded her face and she closed her eyes. Everything had been complicated before, but now things seemed even more so.

“Hey… You okay? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to… I just thought,” Sara told her. “You might be more willing to talk to another woman rather than the guys…”

It took her a moment, she didn’t want Sara to know that she’d fallen to pieces. Felicity loved Sara, they’d become fast friends and it was honestly nice having a friend who wasn’t a guy. There were just some conversations you had with other women. Sara was so strong and Felicity never felt she could be like that. Maybe that’s why she was having such a hard time struggling with accepting what had happened. “No…” she whispered and then took both hands and wiped her face. “I NEED to talk to someone about this…”

“Well, I’m here… I’m your girl,” Sara told her.

“I hardly slept…” she started off. Felicity felt like maybe it wouldn’t make her look so weak to Sara, as far as her emotional state went. “Like two hours…”

Sara nodded slowly as she stared at her. She reached out and pushed a stray strand of hair back behind Felicity’s ear. “Then obviously you need to talk about it…that way you can sleep tonight…”

On the coffee table in front of them was the TARDIS, which contained all of the letters including the one from herself, and the locket with the rings inside of it. She’d given up trying to sleep hours before and had just been sitting on the couch with the TV on low running as background noise. Felicity shifted and grabbed the locket from the table. She held it out to Sara. “So… Apparently because there were two of me…I ended up having some kind of reaction where I was in intense pain that I don’t remember…I think I might have traumatized Barry in the process… But so the other Felicity…she left a letter for me…well actually, she brought other letters too…but right now, I’m talking about the letter she wrote specifically to me…and she asked Oliver to give this locket to me.” She held it out for Sara to take.

The other woman didn’t even hesitate taking the locket from Felicity. “Oracle?” Sara questioned. Felicity hadn’t thought to explain anything about the locket before hand and obviously Sara was looking at the back of the locket instead of the front of it.

“I guess it’s kind of like Canary…or Arrow…or Flash…”

Sara immediately beamed. “See! That’s neat! Right? You get your own hero identity!”

Her excitement was almost overwhelming for Felicity. She hadn’t thought it was THAT exciting. Felicity didn’t think of herself as a hero. She didn’t go around the city in a hood, mask, and a bow. “Uh…I…maybe?”

“Well, I think it’s exciting!” Sara told her. She turned it over in her hands and Felicity noticed the look on her face. “Queen…” she whispered as Sara ran her finger over the engraving on the front. “I’m not surprised.”

“Are you mad?”

Sara looked at her, looking confused and almost shocked. “Why would I be mad about that? If Oliver lives…do you know what year she’s from?”

“Twenty-thirty,” Felicity supplied.

“That’s a miracle…and the only reason that’s likely happened is because of you,” Sara said gently. “Felicity, I don’t think you realize just how much you’ve changed him… He’s better. You made him that way.” She paused for a moment. “You’ve changed every single one of us…”

Felicity had shown Oliver that there were other ways of doing things, but she never really thought about it as changing him. He’d made all the choices. She’d just supported him as much as she could, nagged him when needed, called him out on his crap, and loved him unconditionally. It was Oliver though. “I…I don’t know about that.”

“Trust me,” she told Felicity. “I knew Oliver before the Gambit, on Lian Yu, and now… If anybody, I’m going to be the best judge of how he’s changed.”

Silence passed between them as they just stared at each other before Felicity finally looked away. There was just so much going on in her brain, thinking about that on top of everything else just was too much. She was smart, some called her a genius, but her brain couldn’t process all of that all at once. So, she decided to go with a distraction to switch topics. She just hoped that Sara wouldn’t catch her doing it, or at least not call her out on it. “It’s a locket,” Felicity pointed out.

“It’s heavy.”

“She put their wedding rings inside of it,” Felicity explained.

Sara almost immediately popped it open and started to examine them. “Did you try on yours?” she asked. She looked over the three band set, setting aside the one that belonged to Oliver. “You know Moira wouldn’t have felt like these were fitting the next Mrs. Queen.”

“I like them,” Felicity spoke up without really thinking about it. “They’re not exactly simple, but they’re not really fancy or over the top…” Almost having forgotten Sara’s first question, she added her response a moment later. “And no, I haven’t tried them on.”

“You should,” Sara told her and held them out to her. “What?”

“Isn’t that weird?”

“Because they’re dead? Because you and Oliver aren’t even dating?”

“Yes…to all of that,” Felicity replied.

“She wanted you to have the locket AND the rings, Felicity…”

“That doesn’t make it less weird.”

Sara didn’t seem to be worried about weird because she grabbed Felicity’s hand and slid the three rings into place. “And the fit…I don’t know why I’m so surprised…but look at them…”

They were beautiful.

She knew they were because she’d stared at them for hours. Felicity had just been almost scared to try them on, even though she’d wanted to. Now that they were on her finger, it was like they’d always been there. She didn’t want to take them off. “They’re gorgeous,” she whispered as she just stared down at her hand.

“Look at how happy you two look,” Sara said. “Did you try to pop the pictures out to see if there was anything written on the back?”

“No,” Felicity said, momentarily turning her attention to Sara and the locket. “I mean…wedding day and then plus kids… I didn’t know what else might be on the back of them, plus…I didn’t want to break it…”

“Years…the kids’ names, unless it said their names in the letter?”

Felicity shook her head and her eyes welled up with tears again. Those children… They had been part of the reason she couldn’t sleep. “No… I know that both of her children died in her arms, though, and that Oliver was dying in her arms before she went through whatever brought her here…” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I can’t imagine every single person I hold so dear, dying in my arms… Death must have been such a release for her…”

“This date doesn’t surprise me.”

She looked back to Sara and noticed that she’d popped the wedding picture off. “What?”

“Do you want to know?”

“No.”

“Then it’ll be a secret I’ll keep,” Sara told her as she re-affixed the picture. “Do you want to see if the kids’ names are on the back of the other one?”

Pros and cons raged inside of her head, but the nightmares…the idea that maybe if she knew their names…it would help things won over. “Yes.” The other photo was popped off and she leaned in closer to look at the back of the picture. “Tommy and Madelyn…”

“Thomas and Madelyn Queen. I like it,” Sara told her. “Twenty-twenty-four is the year.”

“That’s four years before they were murdered.”

The photo was flipped back over, so they could look at the picture. They looked so happy in it. “He looks about five or six and she looks about two.” Sara was quiet for a moment. “Who would kill kids?”

“Apparently the government…” She leaned forward and retrieved the letter from future Felicity from the TARDIS before handing it to Sara. “I just… I don’t know how I could be as strong as she says…”

Sara just stared at her and Felicity didn’t understand WHY. She hadn’t even started reading the letter yet. “Felicity, you really don’t see yourself how the rest of us see you, do you?”

“I’m a liability… I can’t defend myself—“

“You do things the rest of us can’t do,” Sara told her. “And YOU are the reason why we can do what we do… Strength isn’t just about brute force. It’s love, too, and you have so much of that…”

Both of them were quiet as Sara read the letter. It was almost a relief. To have someone read it and not worry about her going right away and talking to Oliver about it. Felicity knew that she could trust Sara and it was just nice to know that she would tell her what she thought. Sara obviously saw things differently than she did and really, it did help. She was starting to actually feel sleepy, like she might actually get to sleep, and Felicity figured that maybe it really was sharing the weight with Sara.

Sara handed her back the letter. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know…” Felicity said slowly. “How can I fight the future?”

“You don’t fight it alone,” Sara told her as she put an arm around her and pulled her closer. “We fight it together.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - Foundry**

 

“Hey…” he greeted. Barry’s smile was bright and like normal, he seemed in good spirits, as he spun a bit to track her as she entered the Foundry.

Felicity had allowed herself to sleep. Sara had made her eat first, making up an excuse that she always ate alone and she hadn't eaten yet. Felicity had actually fallen asleep on the couch and Sara had made sure that she'd gotten into her own bed. By what Felicity could remember, she'd slept over sixteen hours and was feeling human, though still a little sleepy. "You're still here."

"I was worried about you."

"You didn't spend the night--"

"I ran home...and I ran back," Barry told her, smile still in place.

Felicity had sort of forgotten about that. It made sense and she knew that he was worried about crowded her. She appreciated it. She'd actually appreciated that all of the guys seemed to have been okay with her just having space and thinking things out. Of course, Felicity HAD texted them to let them know that she was alive so that they wouldn't worry. "Right," she said as she closed the distance between them. Her hand fell into her coat pocket and retrieved the letter. Felicity had thought and thought about this and she'd discussed it with Sara.

Sara was right.

If she was going to fight the future, then they had to do it together.

They were a team.

Sharing this information was important. It didn't mention Barry, but she felt like he'd understand. Felicity hoped that he'd find a reason to help them in it. "You need to read this," she told him as she held it out to him.

"I thought it was a secret?"

"It's MY secret to share," Felicity said and as Barry took it, everyone else appeared in full gear (well not Diggle, but he looked like he'd been sparring with the others). Her eyes met Oliver's and he looked unsure. He opened his mouth, probably to argue, and she held up a hand and cut him off. "It's my choice… I get to make the decision of who gets to read it." She paused for a moment and tried to think of how to phrase her words correctly. "I think it's best that everyone read it. I don't want to keep secrets…"

"Felicity--" Oliver started to argue.

In just a couple of beats, Felicity moved over to Oliver. She had to make things right with Oliver. She knew that he was worried and she could understand why. Now that she had time away and she'd talked it out with Sara and she'd talked it out with Sara and she'd been able to actually sleep, Felicity felt like she could be calm and reasonable about things. There were still emotions, but they weren’t running what should be more logical thought.

“Roy and I are going to head out,” Sara told Oliver.

“And I’m going home for dinner with my family and then I’ll be back…and I”ll read it then,” Diggle said.

“I’m just going to read this…and you can pretend like I’m not here,” Barry said as he turned in the chair, so his back was to them.

Oliver was suddenly smiling. She had missed him smiling, even if it was only for a day or so. “Are you sure?” he asked her.

Felicity’s hand was on his arm and she stared up at him. “I wasn’t before, but now I am,” she told him quietly. "Oliver, we have to do this… It's confusing and strange, but it's important." Her hand slid down to his and his hand gripped hers. "Please...trust me."

"I--I do," Oliver told her as he squeezed her hand. He gave her a curious look and then held up their hands between them. "The rings…"

She'd forgotten.

Her breath caught up inside of her and she just stared. What was Oliver going to think? Felicity opened her mouth and started to try to push out the words, but they really didn't come out. Tears pushed to the brink, but didn't fall. She'd thought she was in control of her emotions… "I forgot," she finally whispered, her voice breaking here and there. "I--I--"

"They're beautiful," Oliver told her. What he did next, surprised her. Oliver removed the middle and outer band, leaving just the one band in place. "That's better."

"Oliver?"

"You keep this one for now...and I'll hold onto these," Oliver replied.

Felicity stared at just the one ring on her hand and was even more confused. She'd just forgotten about them. For some reason, they had felt right to wear and she'd not even realized that they were still on the next morning. "What are you doing?"

Oliver held her hand in place, his hand under hers. "This one… This one is a promise, a promise that I'll be here by your side through everything… Anything you need, Felicity. I am here. I will always be here."

Tears fell from her eyes and she wanted to believe that. Felicity didn't want the future that Felicity Queen wrote to come true. She didn't want her children to die in her arms or for her to have to leave a bleeding Oliver behind in order to try to save the world...she wanted the circle to end. She didn't want to repeat anything that was in that letter. "Oliver…" she whispered. "You don't have to do this…"

"No," he told her. "But I WANT to." Oliver was quiet for a moment. "I'm not going anywhere, Felicity. We're partners, right?"

She pushed forward a smile, ignoring the tears. "Partners."

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - Outside the Foundry**

 

Felicity had eventually left the Foundry in order to let everyone read in peace. It was mostly because she didn't want to watch Oliver's face as he read it. She knew that Roy and Sara would be on their way back soon, same with Diggle, but Sara had already read it...that still left Roy and Diggle though. As much as she felt better about things, she was still nervous. Things were changing and she felt like they were already changing quickly.

She looked down at the ring on her hand. Felicity still didn't know what to think about that. Hope maybe? She knew that now everything could change because of the letters, the pictures, the locket, and the rings. Change was what they needed, but she hoped that it wouldn't change TOO much. Felicity really thought that being Felicity Queen might be nice...not because of anything except for the fact that she loved Oliver.

Was love enough?

She liked to think so.

The pictures had shown two happy and loving looking people...and those children. They were beautiful and happy. Felicity really hadn't thought about kids or being a mother. Not in a really long time. Now she found herself thinking about it.

A family.

One of her very own.

Something so normal.

Normal.

Felicity sometimes missed normal.

"Felicity?"

She turned around and found Oliver standing there. "I just needed air."

"Are you okay?"

Nodding for a moment, she smiled briefly, and then shook her head. "I honestly...I honestly don't know…"

"Yeah, me too."

Felicity moved towards him and held out her hand, he took it. "But we'll get through it together."

Oliver nodded. "Yes." He held up his other hand and from it, the locket fell from his palm. It bounced as the chain length fully unwound from his hold. "I know that this is so much for you, Felicity, but you are the Oracle… OUR Oracle."

"I--I never thought of myself as someone who would have a name like that," Felicity admitted with a small smile. Maybe Sara was right. Maybe it was sort of cool. Now even Roy had a name, he was Arsenal. She and Diggle were the only ones without one.

His hand dropped from her and he held the chain now with both hands. "I think it's time that you embrace the name," Oliver told her and put the necklace over her head and didn't release it until it settled around her neck. He pushed her hair away and just smiled.

Felicity looked down, her hand cupping the locket as she stared at it. He'd put it on backwards, so that it read 'Oracle'.

"Maybe there's a reason why it has two sides."

"Two lives," she told him as she looked back up at him.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	13. New York Bound

 

 

**2015 - Foundry (A Week Later)**

 

Felicity found herself thinking about the letters…about the future foretold…instead of focusing on her computer screen. Everyone was out making sure the city was safe, except Diggle was at home with Lyla and little Andy. Tonight was just not one of the nights that Diggle was working with Team Arrow, which was probably better because Felicity was far too distracted.

Her focus shifted to where the TARDIS sat on her desk. She’d been carrying it around with her EVERYWHERE. Oliver had told her that she didn’t have to, but she felt like she needed to know where those letters were at all times. If they were really true, then they were the key to keep a future from happening that none of them wanted.

The letters were practically committed to memory. She’d read them over and over again looking for clues. She had looked over the locket and the rings. Oliver had told her to keep the three rings safe in the locket, while one remained on her hand. The one thing that she hadn’t done was to start research. There was SO much to be researched from all of those letters. She’d just given herself a week to really let it sink in and for things to start to feel more normal.

Or as normal as they got.

Barry was back in Central City and things felt like they were before as far as the Foundry, Team Arrow, and life in Starling City had felt before. Things seemed like they were settling down, but Felicity knew that things couldn’t just go back to the way that they were. She knew that. Names haunted her mind and other names waited for their mystery to be revealed.

Tommy.

Madelyn.

Those children that weren’t hers, but were… Their names and their faces were etched into her thoughts. These children that were supposed to be hers and Oliver. Their happy faces and she knew that they had all died tragically. As much as she wanted to forget everything that had happened a week before, she knew that she couldn’t.

The future depended on it.

The future depended on her.

Them.

Felicity sucked in breath and tried to focus on the real world. She turned around in her chair and watched as everyone did their thing. No one had pushed, though she was certain that they were all worried. She sat there for a moment, just watching them as they all worked and did their individual task. “Can we talk?” she finally asked.

“All of us?” Roy asked as he motioned around.

“Yes,” she said with a smile. “If everyone’s available.”

“You know we’re always here for you, Felicity,” Diggle said as he immediately stopped what he was doing and moved towards where she was.

Oliver seemed like he was the hesitant one. Sara and Roy joined Diggle before Oliver finally did. She wasn’t surprised. Felicity hated it, but the two of them and been far more distanced than normal. Oliver had told her that he just wanted to make sure that she needed the space that she needed, though. He’d told her that he loved her and that that’s why he still wanted her to wear the ring.

Felicity took a moment and then decided it was time. Now or never. Really, never wasn’t a choice. Not with everything that was hanging on the line. With everything that depended on them. “I know that it’s been a week—“

“If you need more time, Felicity—“ Oliver started, but she interrupted.

“I don’t. I’m good now.” She paused as she thought about what she was saying. Felicity looked directly at Oliver now. “Okay, so maybe I’m not ‘good’, but I’m less…shocked…and confused…and…everything else.” She just hoped that she was explaining herself well enough.

“What do you want to do?”

The ball was in her court. She understood that. She knew that that was why there hadn’t been any pushing and why she needed to be the one to bring it all up. Felicity finally broke her eye contact with Oliver and looked at the others. This involved all of them, it meant all of their futures…it meant children that none of them had yet…spouses…and she didn’t even know what else. “I want to fight the future,” she whispered. Felicity had been holding off researching the names in the letter, but she knew them by heart. Now was the time to look into those people. “I think we need to start researching, tracking, and contacting the people in the letter…”

“I think that’s a good place to start,” Diggle told her. “Though, we have to keep in mind that even if the other Felicity could trust them…that doesn’t mean they’re trustworthy now… People change.”

Felicity nodded. She’d thought about that, too. Five years. A year. A month. It could change someone drastically. They all had pasts and they all had things that they weren’t proud of in those pasts. Each one of them knew that. “You’re right,” Felicity said. “I think we’ll know the best way to approach each person once we do a little research.”

“What’s the first name?” Oliver asked.

“Nick Fury.”

“That’s where we start then,” Oliver stated. “Together.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - Foundry (The Next Day)**

 

“How is it that we’ve gone through two names on the list and they are both reported as dead?” Roy questioned.

Felicity smiled. “I’m pretty sure we work with two people on a daily basis who were supposed to be dead.” People being dead was almost a joke around there. Oliver and Sara were both supposed to be or almost dead too many times to count. She was actually a little surprised that Roy had even said anything, but at the same time…sometimes it was nice to be surprised by such things. “If she said that they were alive, then they’re out there…somewhere…alive. We just have to find them…but there are others on the list.” She turned around in her computer chair. “Stark Industries. That’s where we’re going to find three of the people on our list and possibly information about all of the others.”

“Really?” Diggle asked. “All in one place?”

Sara and Oliver were out on patrol while the rest of them worked on various tasks. Felicity’s task meant researching and she was very good at researching. “Tony Stark and Pepper Stark…well, she’s Pepper Potts now…but she WILL be Pepper Stark. Maria Hill is also working there.” She took a moment to breathe. “Ms. Potts is the CEO of Stark Industries, which is actually Mr. Stark’s company. Maria Hill works security for them and is former SHIELD.”

“Isn’t Stark that guy who flies around in a metal robot?” Roy asked as he made a face.

“He goes by Iron Man.”

“That’s WEIRD.”

“You do realize that you go out in a hood with a bow and arrows, crime fighting…” Diggle said slowly.

Felicity knew that this wasn’t going to be easy, but at least they had a start. They could figure out the ones who were reported as dead later. They were both SHEILD, so she was sure that the explanation was something like they were just undercover or erased for their protection. Whatever it was, Felicity knew that Nick Fury and Phil Coulson were out there in the world somewhere. She was just going to have to find them, she was certain that she could do that. It was just going to take some time. “We’re really not that different…”

“EVERYONE knows he’s Iron Man,” Roy pointed out.

Tilting her head to the side, she supposed that that was pretty much the biggest difference. “There IS that.”

“Could you imagine everyone knowing that we’re all part of Team Arrow?”

“Don’t let Oliver hear you calling us that,” Diggle teased.

Felicity smirked. Ever since Oliver had brought up the use of that term and Felicity admitting that she used it on occasion, they’d tried not to use it in front of Oliver. The truth was, it was fitting. They were a team and the Arrow had started it all. Without Oliver, none of them would be there. “I think I prefer no one knowing that I do all the computer work for the team…”

“Well, Lance knows,” Diggle pointed out.

“That’s different,” Felicity countered. Of course, at first Lance had terrified her when he’d connected dots. Now, though, he was trusted and he was on their side. Felicity knew that she didn’t have to worry about him coming and arresting her for her hacking or vigilante helping side job.

“Think about it, though,” Roy pushed.

“Yeah, I’m thinking about how dangerous it would be for Andy. It’s bad enough that people already know that Lyla works for ARGUS and that I work for the Arrow. Think about what that would mean if EVERYONE in the world knew who we were, Roy. Just think about how that would effect people in your life,” Diggle told him. “Think about Thea.”

Roy was silent suddenly.

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be good for anyone,” Felicity spoke up. “The last thing we need when dealing with all of this is for Thea to go off the deep end because you and Oliver have been lying to her about everything.”

“Okay, maybe keeping our identities a secret IS a good idea,” Roy conceded. “So, what can I do? Please…tell me that I can do SOMETHING.”

“I’m hungry,” Felicity told him as she took a moment to spin in her chair. She just couldn’t look at names, numbers, locations, or any other information. They needed sustenance and they needed a distraction.

Diggle sat down next to her. “Oooo, me too!” he enthused as he crossed his arms over his chest and grinned.

Roy didn’t look amused. “I already got you guys coffee.”

“But now we’re hungry.”

“I guarantee you’ll get points with Oliver if you have food for him when he gets back,” Felicity told Roy. She smiled sweetly. “We’re all starving… It’ll help things if we eat something.”

“Caffiene might help, too,” Diggle added.

Roy just groaned, turned, and then headed up the steps and out of the Foundry.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - Foundry (A Little Later)**

 

“What if we’re doing this too soon? What if we should wait?” Roy asked.

Diggle, Felicity could tell, did not like that question. Before she could say anything, he was speaking. “I go home everyday and I worry about that future,” Diggle voiced. “I go home to Lyla and Andy and all I can think about is all those children that were massacred…”

“That’s not going to happen,” Felicity said firmly.

They all had a stake in it. The future her didn’t give them information on every single person they knew, but what she had given was more than enough motivation knowing that she had been…would be…or whatever it would be now…happy with Oliver and two children that were then violently and gruesomely taken from her. That future wouldn’t repeat, it couldn’t, she wouldn’t allow it.

“Maybe ARGUS could help,” Diggle suggested.

Oliver seemed uneasy about that suggestion. “I’d rather Amanda Waller not know about any of this or have anything where she feels we owe her.”

“Lyla doesn’t have to say anything, Oliver. Just look into SHIELD, Nick Fury, and Phil Coulson.”

Felicity could see that Oliver still didn’t want to budge on his preferences when it came to Amanda Waller and ARGUS. It was obvious that Oliver had a history with Waller and it likely had to do with the five years he was away. She didn’t want to press him about it right now, but Felicity hoped that one day he’d open up about everything that he kept secret.

“Why don’t we revisit having Lyla help us once we know a little more?” Felicity suggested. In her mind, it was a compromise. They had to compromise in situations like these, but Team Arrow had such strong, dominant personalities and sometimes that was hard. “If we go to New York, we could visit three people on that list under the guise of Queen Consolidated.”

“You still need a valid reason to be there,” Sara reminded. “Something business related.”

“There are a couple of prototype developed by the applied sciences division that have failed to yield a functioning product, they have flaws that none of our scientists have been able to resolve. Maybe we could propose a partnership with Stark Industries.”

“A partnership?” Oliver questioned.

Felicity shrugged. “We have to start somewhere, right?”

“Why would they want to partner with us?”

“Let me put together the files on that,” Felicity told him. “I think I can come up with some fairly convincing numbers.” She’d been thinking about this ever since she realized that they could possibly go undercover…well, that they could use their day jobs in order to get their answers. Felicity had taken it upon herself to try to figure out how to make it work. They needed friends in business anyways, right? Companies couldn’t all be against once another…or at least that’s what Felicity liked to think. Maybe she was naive, but she thought it could work.

“When do we leave?”

“In the morning,” Felicity told him with a smile. “I’ve already made the arrangements to use the Queen Consolidated jet. A flight is being logged from Starling City to New York.”

“Maybe we should come along,” Sara suggested.

Diggle nodded. “You might need security.”

“No, we’ll be fine,” Oliver assured them.

“So, just you and Felicity are going?”

“Just us,” Oliver confirmed as he turned to look at her with a smile.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - Stark Tower (The Next Morning)**

 

New York was a lot different than Starling City, but deep down Felicity knew that it was all the same. New York was so much bigger and faster than Starling City, but they still had all the same problems…in bulk. There was no hooded vigilante roaming the streets here, but Tony Stark did suit up and take care of problems all over the world. Stark Tower had been fairly recently constructed and then repaired. Felicity had wondered if Oliver was comparing locations, but Felicity knew that each building served its function and to her…that was what mattered. She didn’t care about building sizes or whose was bigger.

The interior of Stark Tower was elegant and modern. Signs of technology were everywhere, but at the same time it was beautiful and there was something calling and almost regal about it. They approached the front desk to check in and get directions. Felicity looked down at her watch and was happy that they were a little early. She was pretty sure this was the ONLY business meeting Oliver had EVER been early for AND prepared for.

That was really thanks to her.

“We’re here to see Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts,” Oliver announced.

Felicity didn’t like the look that the front desk receptionist gave them. She was fairly sure that neither of them was going to like what they were going to hear.

“I’m so sorry,” the receptionist started to say. “But they’re not in. If you’d like to make an appoint—“

“We have an appointment,” Oliver said through gritted teeth.

She could tell that he was TRYING to keep it together. Felicity reached out and touched his arm lightly, it was enough to tell him that she’d take it from there. Her attention turned to the receptionist and she made sure that she had a smile in place. “Oliver Queen,” she said as she motioned to Oliver and then to herself. “Felicity Smoak. We have an appointment. We’re with Queen Consolidated.” Her voice was quiet and calm and she was almost relieved when Oliver ended up getting a phone call in the middle of her conversation with the receptionist, he needed the distraction.

“I’m SO sorry, Ms. Smoak,” the receptionist spoke up. “Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts actually cancelled every appointment today and tomorrow. It was very last minute and it looks like we contacted the number on file—“

“Queen Consolidated,” Oliver interrupted. “They got the message for the cancellation.”

The receptionist looked completely apologetic. “I’m sorry. None of us knew. We all came in to company-wide e-mails this morning. They decided to elope and take a day to honeymoon. They said that life was too short and they couldn’t wait anymore.” She typed for a moment. “I DO have you rescheduled for the day they’re back, though?”

“We came all the way from Starling City,” Oliver commented and sounded a bit irritated still.

Felicity, though, couldn’t be upset. Maybe it was because she understood that life was too short now with all that she DID know…or maybe it was because you couldn’t be mad at people for making their happiness happen. “It’s okay,” she said and looked between the receptionist and Oliver. “We’ll just…sight see for two days… It’ll be like a vacation…”

“I’m so sorry again,” the receptionist said.

“Felicity—“ Oliver started.

“It’ll be FINE,” she told him as she reached out and touched his hand. “When was the last time either one of us took a vacation anyways?” He still didn’t look pleased. “Go on and call home…let them know what’s going on… If all else fails, I can stay and make the meeting.”

“I’m not leaving you alone,” he whispered and then just nodded and turned back to go make his call.

“Let me make sure that you have my direct number,” Felicity told her.

The receptionist nodded. “That would be great…and I’ll make sure that you have the reschedule day and time.”

It didn’t take Felicity long before she moved to where Oliver was standing outside making his phone call. He got off of the phone just as she made it to him. “How are things back home?”

“Diggle said not to worry about it. They’ve got it,” Oliver said and sounded a little annoyed. “Sara said…” He stopped what he was saying and Felicity noticed that he suddenly seemed embarrassed.

“What? What did Sara say?” Felicity questioned, suddenly curious.

Oliver shook his head. “It was…she…” He stopped and a smile broke out across his face. “Nevermind.”

“What?”

“What do you say to lunch and then we look into a show later on?” Oliver asked. “That’s what people do when they come to New York, right?”

Felicity shrugged. “I really don’t care what we do…as long as we do it together.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	14. Clicking and Clashing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter until I put this fanfic on hiatus while I work on my story for the WB's Writers Program.

 

 

**2015 - New York Hotel Room**

 

“This is probably for the best,” Felicity told him.

Oliver looked over at her. “How?”

“We can figure out how to approach things with the Starks,” Felicity suggested. “So far I haven’t thought of a good segway between business and the whole ‘we need your help in order to help US save the future’ talk.”

“You COULD just hack their system and see if there’s anything helpful,” Oliver told her. “I had planned on just letting you run with whatever you’d come up with.” Oliver smiled at her. “I thought we wanted to see what kind of people they are NOW. I just figured hacking would help you assess that now.”

Felicity sat up straighter, put her tablet down, and looked at him. “Are you trying to get out of other ways of occupying our time?” she asked quite seriously.

A smile glimmered before he became serious as he leaned forward in the chair. “I can think of ALL kinds of ways for us to occupy our time.”

It suddenly hit her, what she said…the unintentional innuendo in it. Blush filled her cheeks and she covered her face. “I really have a hard time speaking to you sometimes…”

“It’s one of the things I love about you.”

Felicity peeked from the other side of her hand to find him grinning at her. “I just meant—“

Oliver raised a hand. “I know. I know what you meant, Felicity.” He paused for a moment. “But you’re right. We should do something more than work.” He paused again. “After all, how often do we actually get to spend time together?”

“You mean, that isn’t work related?”

Everything was ALWAYS work related. If it wasn’t the Arrow business, then it was Queen Consolidated. Felicity really didn’t have time for anything in between. She knew that Oliver definitely didn’t have a life in between those. They both needed a life beyond it all.

Felicity smiled and answered her own question a moment later. “That would be NEVER.”

“Even if it IS work. I still enjoyed our time together.”

Even though they were technically on a mission, she was still enjoying her time with Oliver. Maybe it was just because it was what they were used to, this was how they spent time together. Or maybe ti was because she was a little afraid to take it further.

The dark future still haunted her.

The what ifs.

The letter.

The locket.

The rings.

The pictures.

The reality of it all.

“We’re going to get tickets to a show… We’re going to eat something… And we’re going to pretend like both of us actually know how to act on a vacation,” Oliver said after a long moment.

Felicity stared at him and bit her bottom lip. She dropped enough accidental innuendos when she was with Oliver when they were working, she had no idea how she was going to make it through their time in New York together without blushing the entire time. God, how she loved that man, though. Felicity just finally nodded in response. Maybe this was what she needed…what they both needed.

Time.

Time together.

Time together without trying to save the city.

“I’d really like that,” she finally told him with a smile.

“Good,” he replied with a bright smile. “Now, I’m going to figure out how to do all of that…”

She watched him for a moment as he tried to figure out who to call from their hotel room directory by the phone. Felicity smiled and gave him a moment before she spoke up. “I could call—“

“No, no,” he said quickly as he held up a hand. “Concierge. Found it. I can do it…”

“My hero,” she teased lightly and was suddenly beaming. Oliver Queen, the man who couldn’t do anything like this for himself was doing it now… She supposed that now was when it really mattered. He looked back over at her as he put the phone up to his ear and was smiling back at her, shaking his head a bit.

Felicity had a feeling that she was going to enjoy New York.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**2015 - New York Hotel Room**   
**Later That Night…**

 

“You look exhausted.”

Felicity smiled over at him. “I am,” she confirmed. “But I had a really good time.” The day and evening had been nice. It had been forever since either of them had just taken time to just relax and do something that normal people did.

“Me, too,” Oliver told with a smile as he peeled off his jacket. Their coats were already stacked together by the door.

He walked over to where Felicity was sitting on the only bed in their room. They were in a suite, so there was always the couch if Felicity felt uncomfortable when it was finally time for bed. With Oliver, Felicity really didn’t see that happening. Oliver made her feel safe…and so many other things… If anything, she was just going to feel like she was living in a fantasy.

“How are you doing with everything?” Oliver asked.

“I think I’ll feel better after tomorrow,” Felicity confessed. “It still feels like a dream…or like I’m crazy.” She looked up at him. He wasn’t looking at her like she was crazy though.

Oliver sat down next to her, his arm slowly eased around her, he pulled her close, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re not crazy, Felicity,” he whispered. “We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing—“

“That’s because of HER, not ME,” Felicity quickly clarified.

“She’s still YOU,” Oliver insisted.

“She’s stronger—“

“No,” Oliver told her. “You are stronger than you think you are…just as you’re far more intelligent than sometimes I realize.”

Felicity beamed for a moment. “Speaking of my talents…why don’t we get into bed…I mean…” Felicity blushed and covered her face. She took a moment to take a breath. She always said things the wrong way. “I was trying to say that we could sit in bed…together…with clothes on…and look into everything about Tony Stark and Pepper Potts and Stark Industries…”

“Anything to get me in bed, huh?”

Her face, Felicity was certain, was bright red now. Even though the sound of Oliver’s voice very much conveyed teasing. Oliver really was the one person that Felicity could successfully and unintentionally ramble around and for things to just spew out of her mouth as innuendo without even trying. It was like a special super power that only worked when Oliver was around. “If I knew it was that easy to get you into my bed, I would have asked…long ago…” she found herself teasing back as she let her heels drop to the floor.

After a moment, her hand dropped from her face and though she kept her gaze downward, she got to her feet and turned her back to Oliver. They were sharing a room, they’d made a special promise, and in all honesty…Oliver had seen enough of her where she didn’t think it was going to be such a shock. “Do you mind unzipping me?” It wasn’t like she was going to sleep in footie pajamas. Felicity lifted her blonde hair and when Oliver didn’t immediately start to unzip her, she looked over her shoulder back at him. “Oliver?”

“Uh—“ Oliver stammered and then a moment later, he was unzipping her dress.

She moved to where her luggage was and pulled a t-shirt from it, she removed her dress and pulled the t-shirt over quickly. They were both adults, right? They could make this not weird, right? Felicity laid her dress out over the chair and turned to see Oliver stripping down to his boxers. This was a look that she’d seen him in pretty much all of the time and though it was breathtaking every time, it wasn’t one that she was completely used to still. Felicity grabbed her tablet and her keyboard from her bag before pulling back the blankets and crawling into bed.

“You know, we could call up for dessert…”

Felicity really wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I’m allergic to—“

“Nuts,” Oliver finished. A beat passed. “I remember.”

She nodded for a moment. Sometimes it surprised her when he remembered things like that, okay…so she knew that Oliver just shouldn’t surprise her anymore…but he did… In the early days, things hadn’t been like they were now. They had been heated and they’d been filled with moments where they disagreed…but they’d grown close since then. Felicity honestly didn’t know how she’d become so attached to him, looking back…she knew that her past self wouldn’t have been able to fathom missing him if she didn’t see him for a day. That’s how it was now.

“Maybe after we get some work gets done,” Oliver told her evenly as he pulled back the blankets on the other side and scooted into bed beside her. He stared at her, she could feel him and see him out of her peripheral vision. It was different, but definitely not a bad kind of different.

Felicity tried to pull her focus back to the tablet in her hands. She snapped the keyboard on and unlocked it. “So…I might have looked up Tony Stark and Pepper Potts before we left…” Felicity said quietly as she brought up the information she’d gathered on them. She brought up Tony first, pictures and everything. “Tony is the son of Howard and Maria Stark. Howard made it really big with Stark Industries with weapons among other things. He was a genius really…just like Tony is. Both of his parents died and he sort of was nortorious for being a genius, but a rich bad boy…always with a different woman all the time and always drinking and partying…” Felicity looked to Oliver. “I wonder who that reminds me of?” she teased.

He smiled at her. “Did he end up shipwrecked?”

“Not exactly,” she told him and brought up news articles. “He was at a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan and he was presumed dead after their convey was blown up. He built a suit of armor to escape from the prison he’d been kept in where they tortured him and forced him into building a weapon for them.” It wasn’t exactly Lian Yu, but really…it was close. It also wasn’t nearly as long as Oliver had been gone, but the change had been obvious. “He came back a changed person and didn’t want to produce weapons for the military anymore.”

“Wait. Isn’t he the guy who builds those armor suits?” Oliver questioned.

Felicity nodded. “Instead, he built a better suit and started to be his own version of a vigilante.” She was quiet for a moment. “He found a cause… When New York was under attack by aliens, he came together with a team of heroes and they drove them back…he almost died.”

“Almost dying reminds you of the important things in life,” Oliver spoke up.

When she looked over at him, she found him staring at her. She was quiet for a moment. “Well, it must have…because after that Pepper moved in with him in Malibu. Which brings us to the reason they’re in New York.” She brought up news footage of the Stark Malibu Mansion. “His house was destroyed by a terrorist known as the Mandarin. He saved Pepper and from everything I’ve read…the two of them have been through every big bad… Their home in Malibu is being rebuilt, which is why they’re at Stark Tower now. No wonder the two of them are married, it sort of makes you go ‘what took them so long?’,” Felicity mused. She shrugged. “Pepper’s pretty much a straight arrow. She’s educated, highly intelligent. She started out as Tony’s personal assistant and moved into the spot of CEO of Stark Industries when he was going through a hard time. Sounds like he was sort of melting down…and from stuff I may have found through hacking…at the time, he found out he was dying.”

“But he’s not dying now?”

“Nope,” Felicity confirmed. “Something with the design of the arc reactor he used to wear.” She realized she’d skipped that part. “There was a doctor who was being held prisoner with Stark in Afghanistan. There was shrapnel that was too close to his heart. He put an electromagnet in him to keep him alive. Stark later improved it…it worked as an energy source for his Iron Man suits. He’s had it and the shrapnel removed now…”

“I suppose Stark and I aren’t so different then,” Oliver said quietly, almost contemplative.

There were a lot of similarities, that was for sure. Felicity, though, felt like all of this information truly meant that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts (now Stark) were good people and that at this point in their lives that they could trust them. “Let’s just hope they don’t think we’re crazy in the morning and that maybe they can connect some dots…”

“Agreed,” Oliver responded with a bright smile and took her tablet from her, folding up the keyboard and setting it on the nightstand. “Now…I think that’s enough work tonight…”

Felicity just stared at him, her mouth open slightly. “Oh-oh-kay…”

“I just… We never get to just talk about nothing, do we?” he asked.

It was true. Their discussions tended to be solely about what was going on with Team Arrow and whatever bad guys they were dealing with. It wasn’t often that they talked about just life, what they wanted, each other, the past that they hadn’t shared, or the future… None of it had come up… There just hadn’t been time for it. There really hadn’t been a NEED for it.

“No,” she whispered as she stared at him. “We don’t…”

“So, tell me something…anything…”

“I don’t know if I can do this, Oliver,” Felicity admitted.

“That’s okay,” he whispered. “All those years I was away—“

“You weren’t always on Lian Yu—“

“No,” he confirmed. His eyes never left hers. They were both quiet for a long moment. “All of those years, Felicity. Every day I was gone, I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to do anything I did… I thought I wasn’t strong enough… Even now…there are times when I’m unsure if what I’m doing is right…if I’m strong enough to keep going… If I’m strong enough to make the people in my life proud of who I’ve become.”

She just stared into his eyes as he spoke. His words washing over her, sinking in, and amazing her. Oliver Queen was one of the strongest people that she knew. Diggle, he was strong too, she knew that…he’d been through a lot in his lifetime. She supposed that they all had, they had just all faced different challenges. It was nice to know, though, that even Oliver was unsure about the future…about his own strength. Felicity finally spoke up. “I don’t want to disappoint you guys…” They were her family. They had become that and Felicity didn’t want to disappoint or lose them. She knew that life was precious and that it could be over in an instant. Regrets were not something that she wanted to have.

“That’s never going to happen.”

And she believed him.

“All of our fears…all of our worries… They’re there to challenge us,” Oliver reminded. “You know this.”    
And she did.

“And…you’re not going to lose us, Felicity,” Oliver added quietly. The thought of how her future self had lost everyone that she loved in her life had haunted her a bit too much. “You’re not going to lose ME.” His fingers slowly moved along her bare arm and it felt like electricity dancing from his touch.

“I don’t want that future,” she told him, almost as if she were in a trance. It hit her, that wasn’t entirely true. Felicity held up her hand, the delicate rose gold band on her finger. “I want this part of it… I want the family… But I want happiness… I don’t want to lose everyone dear to us… I don’t want to have everyone die in my arms…”

“I’m not going to let that happen,” he swore.

“We’re not going to let that happen,” she corrected.

Oliver nodded in silent agreement, a smile slipping onto his face.

Felicity didn’t know what came over her, maybe it was talking about the future or talking about them in a relationship together, but she grabbed his arm and leaned in to place a kiss on his lips. She didn’t linger for long, but it wasn’t just a quick peck either. It was enough that she knew that that kiss felt right and that she wanted more. “Dessert?” she whispered.

“I—I—I could go for dessert now,” Oliver had to force to get out as he stared at her.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**Stark Tower, New York - 2015**   
**The Next Morning…**

 

They had been shown up to Ms. Potts’ (apparently she wasn’t going to go by Stark to keep from there being confusion) office, but had been assured that Mr. Stark would also be present at their meeting. When they arrived in the office, it was clean and Felicity appreciated that the office actually had walls and that they weren’t see-thru like the glass ones at Queen Consolidated. “We’re so sorry about the last minute cancellation yesterday,” Pepper immediately apologized as she greeted them and shook both of their hands.

“Though you might have come all of this way for nothing,” Tony said, his hands thrust into the pockets of his slacks. “Not sure that your company is really on the same level as Stark Industries…no offense…I mean—“

Pepper waved him off. “What Tony’s trying to say—“

“She’s the diplomatic one,” Tony admitted as he pointed to his wife.

“He’s trying to say that our companies goals don’t seem quite the same,” Pepper said. “And it doesn’t seem like you’re here to talk about Queen Consolidated merging with Stark Industries, though I’m not sure that the SEC would even allow it…”

“Actually,” Felicity spoke up feeling like they were about to loose their time with Tony and Pepper completely in a moment if they didn’t say something. “That was all a cover,” she admitted. “And I had a whole presentation for that cover story, but obviously that’s not going to fly and honestly…I don’t think it’s needed,” she said as she looked from them to Oliver and then back again.

“Oh?” Pepper responded quietly.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, I’m glad that I got up for this meeting…at least, I’m hoping you have a really interesting story to tell us.”

“We came here with that story because we didn’t think you’d see us otherwise,” Felicity admitted. “Plus, we sort of wanted to see who you were…as people…if we felt like you were good people…”

“I’m not sure that ‘good’ is the word that I would normally use for Tony,” Pepper admitted.

Tony just smirked in response.

“We’re here about what’s coming,” Oliver spoke up.

“What’s coming?” Tony questioned.

“It would probably just be easier to show you the letters…and then see if you believe us then,” Felicity admitted as she opened her bag. She’d stowed the TARDIS and its contents in there. “Though, I have to know… You both know about SHIELD, right?”

“SHIELD’s gone,” Tony said far too quickly.

Felicity eyed him. She’d read that. Something about Hydra. “No, it’s not,” she countered.

“How would you know?”

She held up the TARDIS. “This is all going to be a lot for you to take in. It’s going to be hard to believe…and you’ll probably think we’re crazy, but we need you…” She paused. Felicity stepped forward with the TARDIS and handed it to Pepper. There was something about the woman. She seemed intelligent, wise, and yet…she could tell that she had so much good and kindness in her. “This came from the future… There are letters inside…and things from my future self—“

“From the future?” Tony asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Felicity confirmed. “That’s how I know SHIELD still exists… There are names… Letters…”

“And that’s why you came to us?” Pepper questioned as she opened the TARDIS’ top.

“There are names,” Felicity said. “Nick Fury—“

“Dead,” Tony spoke up.

“Phil Coulson.”

“Also dead.”

“Maria Hill.”

“She’s—she’s our security…”

“Tony Stark.”

“That’s me.”

“Pepper Stark.”

Tony was quiet for a long moment, but Felicity waited for him to make some comment. Finally, he just grinned like it was Christmas morning and there was a whole stack of gifts for him. “See! You DO go by Stark!” Pepper didn’t seem amused by this.

“Bruce Banner.”

“Not SHIELD.” Tony paused and then motioned between himself and Pepper. “We aren’t either, for the record.”

“Leo Fitz.”

“Don’t know him.”

“Jemma Simmons.”

“Don’t know her.”

“Just…please…read them,” Felicity practically pleaded. She motioned towards one of the couches in the rather large office. “We’ll happily wait…and if you don’t believe us, then we’ll go…and we’ll move down the list…”

“Why did you come to us?” Pepper asked.

“Because you weren’t coming up as dead,” Felicity admitted. “And…we figured that since we knew Maria Hill was working here as well…we could take care of almost half the list…”

“That DOES make sense,” Pepper said as she looked between the contents of the TARDIS and Tony and Felicity. “Please,” she spoke up as she motioned to the couch that Felicity had previously motioned to. “Have a seat while we look over these.”

“You believe us?” Oliver questioned.

“I’m…intrigued…”

“I’d rather carbon date things rather than just read the letters,” Tony admitted.

Felicity watched as Pepper pulled out one of the letters. “This one’s in your handwriting,” Pepper told Tony.

“That’s imposs—okay, that DOES look like my handwriting.”

Felicity took Oliver’s arm and the two of them sat on the couch in Pepper’s office. Time passed and Oliver seemed content with texting home while she played sudoku on her phone. They were things to pass the time and right now that was exactly what they both needed. More than an hour passed before either Pepper or Tony spoke directly to them. There had been all kinds of discussion between the two of them and they’d even called Maria Hill into the room. Felicity had been intrigued by Tony’s interaction with what she guessed was his AI that he referred to as JARVIS.

“It’s all quite…convincing,” Pepper admitted as she returned the TARDIS. She held up one letter, the one that was from Stark Industries. “But do you mind if we run our own tests on this one?”

Felicity really didn’t want to let any of them go, but that one wasn’t one that was so precious to her. She understood their caution. They hadn’t seen her elder self and the letter was from HER future self…it was the ONLY one that contained personal details. All of the other letters were basically get out of jail free type of passes. She finally nodded. “Of course.”

“So what does this mean?” Oliver asked curiously.

“It means that we have a standing appointment for tomorrow. Same time?” Pepper questioned. “Of course, if you don’t mind staying in town another night?”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want you to miss out on playing Robin Hood back home too much,” Tony commented.

Felicity caught the look that Oliver sent Stark. She sighed. This was going to be interesting. She felt like they could trust them, though, and Felicity felt like she was a pretty good judge of character. “Of course. Back home they can…manage,” she said slowly and then looked at Oliver. “Just one more day.”

Oliver finally just nodded.

“Here’s where we’re staying in case you need to contact us,” Felicity said as she handed Pepper their hotel’s card. “I wrote our room number and both of our cell numbers on the back.”

“Thank you. That’s very thorough,” Pepper responded as she took the card and flipped it to look at the other side.

“We’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said politely with a smile. Felicity took Oliver’s hand and led him towards the door. The last thing they needed was for things to get confrontational. Did Oliver really think that they wouldn’t figure things out? That JARVIS program was amazing from what she could tell across the room. It was likely that JARVIS had figured it out, but from what she had read about Stark he was a genius. The lot of them were in some form. Plus, they knew that Tony Stark used his suits for good, Felicity felt like they could be good allies should they ever need them. She pressed the button for the lobby once they were both in. The doors closed and she looked over at him. “That went better than I expected.”

“What do you mean?”

“They didn’t flat out call us crazy and they let us leave,” Felicity pointed out.

“You thought that they might have detained us?”

“It had crossed my mind,” Felicity told him with a shrug.

“They would have had to go through me.”

Felicity smirked a little. She thought about Oliver, without his bow and arrows, going up against Stark who from what she had read could summon his metal armor that had weapons in it. That likely wouldn’t have turned out well for them. “My hero.”

He sighed with frustration.

“Look at it this way, we have at least another day here together,” Felicity pointed out. She squeezed his hand lightly. “Is that really such a bad thing?”

“No.”

“I was hoping that you’d see it that way.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be from Pepper's POV.


	15. Stubborn and Difficult Nonbelievers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pepper POV chapter

 

 

**Stark Tower 2015**

 

“We can’t possibly believe them!”

“What did your background search bring up?” Pepper questioned.

“What we already knew, JARVIS figured out the bit about Queen being the Arrow,” Maria said. “But Smoak wasn’t surprised, she already knew—“

Tony brought up the information on both Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak onto the holographic board. “She’s probably HELPING him,” Tony spoke up. “She’s smart.”

“As smart as you?” Pepper teased him lightly with a smile.

“Come on, it’s me,” Tony replied and then grinned at her. “She’s good, though.” He was quiet. “I don’t see Felicity Smoak as the kind of person who would be able to survive five years on some no name island in the North China Sea—“

“That island, Sir,” Maria spoke up. “It has a name. Lian Yu. It’s Mandarin for purgatory.”

“Huh,” was Tony’s uninterested reply.

“Did YOU all those years ago believe with every fiber of your being that you were going to survive in that cave in Afghanistan?” Pepper questioned her husband. Her tone was even as she watched him, her arms crossed over her chest as she waited for a response. Sometimes, Pepper knew, that you didn’t know how strong you were until you were challenged…and it was the absolute only choice you had in order to survive. Tony might not believe that Felicity Smoak could have gone through that kind of crucible, but Pepper was certain that the younger woman had a lot more fight in her than Tony believed.

Tony was quiet for a couple of minutes, his gaze downward at the panel he’d been using. “I suppose you’re right,” he said quietly. He brought up a very different picture of Felicity and seemed amused suddenly. “Though, I think we should fear her inner goth…especially since I’m pretty damn certain that she could turn off the lights worldwide without breaking a sweat.” Everyone looked at Tony. “I’m just putting that out there.”

“The question IS,” Pepper spoke up “Do we TRUST them?”

“As people? Or their crazy story?” Tony questioned.

“They DID bring evidence,” Maria pointed out. It was clear that Maria was actually NOT thrilled with that fact. It made it a lot harder to argue with.

“And it’s REAL evidence,” Pepper argued.

“JARVIS hasn’t finished—“ Tony immediately argued.

Pepper cut him off quickly. “My handwriting was included—“

“Which could have been forged—“

“The wording—“

“So, whoever did it, they were good…that’s all,” Tony said. “That’s not proof.”

“It’s more than just that,” Pepper insisted. It was almost deja vu. There was just something that she couldn’t explain.

Silence settled between them for a long moment, giving them time to process. “What if the Stark Industries letter was used?” Maria asked. “Maybe we’ll be able to catch the person on video.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to check,” Pepper figured. “JARVIS, can you search for any unusual previously unscheduled flights? Anything as far as Stark Industries accounts are concerned?”

“Please specify a timeframe,” JARVIS responded.

“The last month should be sufficient,” Maria suggested. “Anything before that, we would have definitely flagged.”

“Searching,” JARVIS announced. It wasn’t long before there was an answer. “Factoring in trips and unexpected costs that coincide with Mr Stark’s sudden whims, there was use of the private jet and then car services were obtained at the destination.”

The detailed information popped up immediately, replacing the information on Felicity and Oliver, it was complete with surveillance footage. Pepper took a moment to take it all in before tapping on one of the images on the holoboard. It enlarged and Pepper just stared at it. It was definitely Felicity, but you could tell that she was not the same Felicity they’d met. She was older and there was something…sad and dark about her. The locket that she’d had in the TARDIS was around her neck and she looked like hell.

“Are you still suspicious?” Pepper asked, looking between Tony and Maria.

“Yes,” Tony said.

“I was thinking about reaching out to my SHIELD contacts,” Maria spoke up.

Pepper sighed and thought for a moment. That might take time with SHIELD ‘dispersed’ now. They all knew that it all still existed and that Coulson was trying to bring it back (and in fact, not actually dead), but that would still take time. Felicity and Oliver would already be in New York for two additional days because of needing time to go over what they’d been told plus the fact that the first day that they were supposed to meet her and Tony had ended up getting married. She felt like she really needed to prove to them that her instincts were correct.

“JARVIS, can you take the facial scan of Ms. Smoak from her entering the building today and off of this video and compare to this timestamp worldwide?” Pepper questioned.

Maybe if they could find two Felicity Smoaks, then maybe…just maybe…Tony and Maria would be more likely to believe in the evidence.

“Of course, Ms. Potts,” JARVIS’ perfectly wonderful British accented voice responded.

“She’s MRS. STARK now, JARVIS,” Tony argued.

“Ms. Potts prefers that I still address her as Ms. Potts, Sir,” JARVIS replied politely. “If you have a problem with that, I suggest that you discuss it with your wife…”

“I made you!”

“Is it too early to suggest couples counseling, Sir?”

Pepper just grinned and wrapped her arms around Tony. He wasn’t really upset, but it was sort of adorable how he argued with JARVIS…even if it was silly. She should probably be extremely used to how they interacted, but it was still always amusing. “So, what’s it going to really take for you two to believe them?”

“Time will tell?” Tony said.

Shaking her head, Pepper really didn’t know what to think when it came to that response. “I’d prefer to avoid that future…at all costs.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

**Stark Tower 2015**   
**The Next Morning...**

 

“I talked to Coulson.”

It wasn’t abnormal for Maria to discuss things over breakfast with them, but Pepper hadn't nearly enough cups of coffee yet that morning to argue the validity of Mr Queen and Ms Smoak’s evidence even after all of the evidence that THEY’D uncovered. It seemed that no mountain of proof was going to convince Tony and Maria. Pepper didn’t know if it was simply because she had faith in people or because they were just that stubborn. Or maybe it was BOTH.

“Good to know that Coulson still lives,” Tony commented.

It had been hard when all that time had passed where they’d thought that Phil was dead, killed needlessly by Loki. The Avengers had come together, though, and they’d saved New York and the world. She’d been overwhelmed with happiness to hear that Phil was actually alive, but Tony had just been pissed off that it had been kept secret from them for so long. It was a secret, though, to the vast majority of the world that Phil Coulson was out there…rebuilding SHIELD. Only those that were absolutely trusted knew about Coulson.

“So what does Phil have to say?” Pepper finally asked.

“He wants to take them into custody,” Maria said simply.

“Into custody?!”

“It’s SHIELD custody, right?” Tony spoke up before Maria could say more. “Because they’re obviously both armed and dangerous… I mean, he has to work out and she probably works out at improving her keystrokes per second.”

“I think that’s a little drastic,” Pepper voiced as she looked from Maria to Tony. He really wasn’t helping things.

“The girl, Felicity, she’s really the one we should be worried about,” Tony continued.

Pepper sighed and shook her head in response. She was going to need so much coffee to get through the rest of the day and keep her sanity and then later…she’d switch over to wine once she was off the clock.

“They could be working for Hydra,” Maria pointed out.

Of course that was possible. It seemed like half of SHIELD was Hydra. Now it just seemed like Hydra paranoia was everywhere. “I don’t like this,” she said. Pepper frowned. She still believed in people. “There has to be some other way. What does SHIELD want with them?”

“To interrogate—“

“Absolutely not.”

“Pep, it’s not like it’s Thor, and he’s going to knock’em around with that hammer of his…murmur…however he mumbles it,” Tony said with a wave of his hand.

Pepper and Maria just stared at him for a long moment. “He’s right, though, Pepper. This is Phil we’re talking about,” Maria reminded.

“Death changes you,” Tony whispered.

She was fairly sure that Maria hadn’t heard Tony. Pepper reached out and squeezed his hand. He looked at her and they were both silent for a long moment. There had been a lot of almost death situations for Tony over the last several years. Pepper knew that he’d gone to some dark places because of it, but they’d always gotten through it okay.

“JARVIS is running EVERY test again,” Tony said.

“I really don’t think that’s going to alter the results, do you?” Pepper asked him. Did they really thin that JARVIS would be wrong the first time? It didn’t make sense to her and it just seemed like both Maria and Tony were grasping at straws, hoping that the proven evidence was impossible. None of that really mattered, what mattered was keeping the world and the future from turning the hell. She wasn’t going to live that future.

Tony just shrugged in response.

Silence.

“Coulson and his team are already on their way,” Maria announced.

“I thought that they were trying to stay under the radar?” Pepper questioned. She knew that all governments that once helped SHIELD at every turn were now hunted by every government agency AND Hydra. The fact that Coulson would come out of hiding and possibly risk his team spoke volumes to how important they felt Queen and Smoak could be.

Maria shrugged. “They know what they’re doing.”

“Or at least we hope so!” Tony chimed in.

“Or they’re counting on you being here and being able to be Iron Man at a moment’s notice.”

Tony crinkled his face. “Really don't want to be painted a traitor… Life’s been pretty good lately… Let’s face it, prison just wouldn't work for me.”

Pepper sighed and shook her head. “Any way of talking to Coulson before it happens?”

“Not sure you’ll be able to talk him out of it, but I suppose it’s worth a try,” Maria explained. “He knows what time your meeting is and I'm sure plans to be here before then. So…soon.”

Soon.

There was still a chance.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	16. We're Not Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Anakinflair :)

 

 

**Stark Tower 2015**

 

They’d been told to head up to the penthouse, apparently that was where Tony and Pepper wanted to meet them. Felicity had thought that that was a good sign, that they believed them. Oliver, she’d noticed, had stiffened in response and had remained quite silent on their journey. “What?” Felicity finally asked as she looked over at him. He was quiet as the elevators opened, as if waiting for something. Pepper and Tony were both there, waiting, they were well within sight and only a couple of strides away.

Maybe Oliver was nervous.

She was nervous.

This was a big step.

The TARDIS hadn’t been left behind, Felicity didn’t want to leave it anywhere that she didn’t feel was safe or secure. Really, it seemed like anyone not within reach or her line of sight just wasn’t safe. It didn't hold a high monetary value, but it held information…memories…of the future (a future that she was determined to fight and keep from happening). She glanced down at the ring on her finger as she took a step out of the elevator.

One step.

No further.

Oliver’s arm shot out and she nearly fell over as he held her back. “We’re not alone,” Oliver told her quietly. Before he could back them back into the elevator, though, the doors shut.

“You’re right, I’m here,” the voice rang out before Maria Hill stepped into view. “Security…it’s kind of my job.”

“No, there are OTHERS,” Oliver said evenly, still not letting Felicity move.

From where she was standing, she didn’t see anyone, but then…this wasn’t really her forte. Felicity knew that she was definitely a person who liked to believe that people had good in them, that they could be trusted, that you didn’t always have to background check them before KNOWING that they were a good person and telling the truth or worth trusting. Of course, her judgement hadn’t always been awesome in the past, but she was always the ever hopeful optimist.

“I told you it wouldn’t work,” Pepper told Tony with a sigh. “I don’t know why everyone has to be so cloak and dagger about things…”

“Well, I’m supposed to be dead,” an older man said as he stepped out. He was dressed smart in a suit and had a smile on his face. “So, I try not to show my face too much… You know, tends to make things more complicated when you’re supposed to be dead…and then you’re not…I’m sure you understand that, Mr. Queen.” His tone was matter of fact and he seemed to be in a good mood, or at least that’s what Felicity was getting from the man. “My name is Phil Coulson, Director of SHIELD.”

“You still have another person hiding,” Oliver said, his tone still firm and suspicious as he kept scanning the area.

Coulson just seemed amused. “I actually wonder if you can find her before she attacks…”

Felicity didn’t know who sensed who first, but she was pushed out of the way, when she spun around she found Oliver fighting someone in what looked like a high tech camouflage suit. She made sure she was out of the way and instead of them just stopping, they kept at it…and everyone seemed amused except Pepper, who was shaking her head. Oliver and the person in camouflage continued like it was some kind of choreographed dance almost. She’d seen Oliver and Sara fight like this before, because they knew each other so well…they could anticipate each other’s moves. Whoever was in the camouflage was good.

“Are we QUITE done?” Pepper asked loudly after a moment as she looked towards Coulson, her arms crossing over her chest. She was obviously NOT pleased.

“May, that’s enough,” Coulson said evenly.

It wasn’t ordered soon enough. Oliver was suddenly on the ground, the person identified as May held Oliver in place with a foot before unzipping the camouflage suit and revealing her true appearance. This May had to be quite a formidable person in order to have Oliver on the ground. Felicity didn’t miss how pissed Oliver looked as he was being helped to his feet while Tony Stark seemed quite entertained.

“Next time, we do things MY way,” Pepper spoke up. It was clear that her comment wasn’t solely directed at her new husband. “In fact, let’s just say that I make these kinds of choices in the future.”

“Married and already trying to shape me and change me into someone different,” Tony complained playfully.

“That reminds me… We DID bring presents,” Coulson said as he motioned outside to the balcony that led out to a walkway. He clicked what looked like a car alarm fob. “Our invites must have gotten lost.”

“Well, you know…you kind of…DIED,” Tony pointed out. “And then there’s the whole situation with SHIELD falling and Hydra running wild,” he continued before finally pausing. “You’re a hard dead man in charge to find…must not have left a forwarding address with the postal service.”

Outside a type of small aircraft uncloaked. It was like something out of Star Trek. Felicity suddenly wondered if that’s why they were there with another member of the list of people she needed to seek out for help, because they DID believe her and they were there with their snazzy tech things. A ramp lowered and three people headed their way.

“So, you brought presents AND the kids,” Stark teased. “You and May never invited US to the wedding.”

“What does this all mean?” The question was one that Felicity had to ask, but Oliver had beat her to it. His voice was loud and clearly wanting a response, with just a hint of annoyance. They needed to know. Was that why Coulson was there with his people? Felicity desperately wanted to be believed, there was so much pressure. A weight that Felicity didn’t quite understand.

“Yes,” Pepper spoke up.

“I’m not convinced,” Tony admitted. “Let’s be honest. If I were involved in any of this…this whole process wouldn’t be so messy…”

Coulson waited a moment before replying. “I DO believe you, Ms. Smoak, BUT I’m sure you’ll understand my need to personally verify the evidence. You DID bring it with you, right?”

Felicity was still holding the TARDIS. She looked to Oliver before looking back to Coulson as three of his people filed in. They were all about her age and dressed quite well, two women and one man. “Yes,” she finally responded. She suddenly wasn’t so sure about all of this.

“Is there a problem?”

Maybe.

This was a big step and a big chance. Oliver reached out and took her free hand, the other hand still firmly holding the TARDIS against her body. She looked over at him again. What did they do? Did they trust these people? Did they trust SHIELD? It was all just a bit too scary.

Too fast.

“Phil’s trustworthy," Pepper spoke up.

“And my team’s the best,” Coulson added with a bright smile.

Tony couldn’t keep quiet and had to add in his own two cents. “I wouldn’t say…the BEST.”

“This is just a lot,” Felicity confessed. “And I don’t know any of you. Not really.”

“But you knew to seek us out,” one of Coulson’s team stepped forward. She was young and seemed polite and quite happy. Felicity was fairly sure that the young woman’s English accent only made her more adorable.

“I don’t quite understand,” Oliver told them.

“Ms. Potts,” the woman started. “I mean, Mrs. Stark…congratulations, by the way.” She paused a moment to smile towards Pepper. “You mentioned of the letters contained a list of names?”

“Yes,” Pepper responded.

The list of names.

The list had been in the letter that she’d written to herself. Felicity had read it enough to have the entire letter, including the list memorized. “Nick Fury,” she spoke up. That was the first person on their list.

“His death is unclear,” Stark spoke up.

Felicity just stared at Stark in confusion for a moment. “How is it unclear?”

“Because Coulson was dead,” Tony explained. “And now he’s not.” He shrugged. “Next week, Fury might pop up…you know…maybe wanting to go get donuts…”

Felicity supposed she could understand that. After all, she was standing next to a man who had been dead to the world for five years. So, she tried the rest of the list instead. “Phil Coulson.”

“He’s not even dead anymore,” Tony commented.

“Maria Hill.”

Tony pointed to Hill, his security person. Felicity wondered if the remaining names were the people present…or at least some of them? Or one? She’d be happy if they got to see another person on that list, or she hoped that’s how she’d actually feel. This was still so overwhelming to her.

“Tony Stark.”

He pointed to himself.

“Pepper Stark.”

Tony pointed to his wife.

“Bruce Banner.”

“Didn’t bring him,” Coulson commented. “But we could have picked him up.”

“Leo Fitz.”

“That’s me,” the young man raised his hand.

“Jemma Simmons.”

The young English woman seemed to beam now. “And that’s me. So, see…you’re exactly where you should be.”

“That TARDIS, it’s a container, isn’t it?” Coulson asked Felicity. She looked down at it in her arms for a moment. “Is there a SHIELD symbol inside of the top of it?”

Felicity opened it and peered underneath the top hatch. “SHIELD symbol…the one like on the letterhead…that looks like an eagle…” she said slowly as her eyes widened. She had every bit of the letters memorized, but she hadn’t checked every inch of the TARDIS. It just looked like a TARDIS that was also a container of some sorts, for cookies…or miscellaneous items. “How did you know it was there?” she asked as she looked up at Coulson.

“I didn’t take you for a Doctor Who fan,” Jemma spoke up, her comment to Coulson.

“I’m not, but you are,” Coulson told Jemma. “I have that exact gift on the Bus, for you, for your birthday. I added the SHIELD symbol. I figured that you would be able to tell it apart—“

“So, MY birthday present…which you have not yet given me, was in this future…and it came back…is that then why Fitz and my names are on the list?” Jemma questioned.

“I believe that’s something that none of us know.”

And he was right.

There was so much that Felicity wished that she knew about that future. So much that she wished that she didn’t know. “I didn’t even realize that was there…”

“That’s creepy,” Jemma spoke up.

“So what does this mean?” Oliver asked. “Do you believe us? There’s no way we could have known that you added that… Are we all on board with saving the future?”

Coulson was quiet for a moment. “I think that we all need to lay out everything that you have and take the information and start to form a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Yes,” Coulson confirmed. “It’s obviously going to take all of us, or at least, that’s what it seems. Maybe we were the ones in the future that made everything work so that that future Felicity could come back here and warn us. Or maybe it’s just a list of people that she was told to write down. The people that were hoped to help you.”

Felicity just wished that she knew.

“So, are we making this plan right now or do we need to find Bruce…and possibly Fury…you know, if he’s not really dead,” Stark brought up.

“Right now, we might not need Banner to start making a plan,” Coulson brought up.

It was hard for Felicity to have any input in any of what was being said because she didn’t know any of the people that were on the list, so she couldn’t really weigh in on anything. She felt like maybe she and Oliver should go and then return after they’d discuss things amongst things amongst themselves, it was obvious that everyone on that list all knew each other. She was the odd man out in it all.

She looked to Oliver and wondered why they were even there still. They didn’t sound like they were needed now. Felicity felt like she was invisible. Her mind kept going over the words. The words that she’d read, but never had written. The words that told them everything that they needed to prevent.

Oracle.

She was supposed to take up that role. Could she really hold true to that mantle? Felicity wasn’t like Oliver or John or Sara… She’d never been strong like they were. All three of them were fierce and amazing in the field. Sometimes it even seemed like they were invincible. Sometimes. As the others talked, all she could think was that they were overthinking things.

Too much thinking.

“You’re making this all too complex,” Felicity suddenly blurted out.

Everyone was silent and suddenly staring at her. Felicity just stared back at them and breathed for a moment. Oracle, she had to be the Oracle. This meant keeping the future from happening. The horrible images of those adorable children that could be hers rolled through her mind and she forced her emotions to stay in place. Oliver lightly squeezed her hand.

She could do this.

“We’re here because we need to stop the future. In order to do that, we need to stop the sentinels… We have the name of the creator. That’s who we need to stop. We need to stop it before he gets to any government,” Felicity went on. “Or else, we not only have to face a future where we all die…but where we have to witness children…innocent people…people we love…killed…massacred…”

Those children.

She wondered if any of those people had had children in that future. Had the Starks had children. If they’d been massacred with hers? Would any of what she was saying hitting home with any of them. She could see that the three youngest that Coulson had brought seemed emotionally moved.

Oliver.

He was standing there, holding her hand still. Reminding her that she wasn’t alone. Felicity realized that he was also reminding her of the strength that she sometimes forgot that she had, whether he knew he was actually doing that or not. Either way, she was thankful for his presence.

“If you need to look at the letters and what was brought here from the future,” Felicity stated. She understood people being suspicious and even still being unsure. But they really couldn’t drag this out. If they were going to do it, then they needed to do it right then. They couldn’t take the chance of somehow things rolling into motion faster than it had in that other timeline (assuming that now there WAS an alternate timeline because of her future self). “That’s fine.” She paused briefly. “But if we’re going to come together, united, and make a plan. Then we need to do it. Now. Together.”

“See, I knew I liked her,” Tony spoke up.

Pepper just sighed. “She’s right, Phil. We should talk about a plan.”

“The Bus is close,” Coulson responded.

Bus?

Felicity wondered if SHEILD just roamed around in some kind of traveling tour bus. None of them seemed like the kind that did that, especially not with their snazzy little jet that had Romulan-like cloaking abilities. She figured that the Bus had to be code for something… She just kept thinking of some kind of tour bus though with ‘SHIELD’ on the side of it.

“What’s wrong with here?” Tony asked as he motioned around. “I mean, besides the fact that everyone’s crowding the place.”

“The Bus is secure,” Coulson reminded.

“We’re secure,” Tony said. “Right, JARVIS?”

“It depends on your definition of ‘secure’, Sir,” JARVIS responded.

“I swear you've reprogrammed him somehow,” Tony complained to Pepper.

Pepper just smiled and shook her head. “You programmed him to adapt. Remember? To think. Plus, think of all the years he’d had to observe you. If anything, he’s taken on more of your…eccentricities.”

Coulson cleared his throat. “I really think that we should all take this to the Bus.”

“What exactly IS the Bus?” Felicity questioned.

“It’s out base of operations.”

“And you call it the Bus?”

“It’s a ridiculous name for what it is,” Tony chimed in.

Felicity was fairly sure that Tony was really good at randomly chiming in. It seemed to be something that everyone else was fairly used to by now. It was still a little unsettling that she and Oliver were the outcasts in that room. Everyone else knew each other, then it dawned on her… In the future, she didn’t see her and Oliver joining SHIELD, not unless they HAD to. Not unless there was a reason for it.

Their children.

Felicity didn’t have children, not yet, but she knew that parents did everything they absolutely could for their children (at least the good ones did). There was no way that they’d give up their lives so easily. If there was a way to change things and SHIELD had that answer… It was all just thoughts and guesses, but it made her feel a little at ease with being with that group suddenly.

“We need to check in,” Oliver spoke up.

That was smart.

They’d gone there and had expected just to talk to the Starks. They hadn’t expected to meet anyone else besides Maria Hill. They had no idea that they’d be going to SHIELD’s place of operations, but it was smart. They really needed to keep Diggle in the loop.

“Of course,” Coulson said. “You have a team. I understand that.” He paused for a moment. “Why don’t we meet up a little later? That will give everyone time to make arrangements.”

“There is that meeting that we shouldn’t miss, Tony,” Pepper reminded.

"I'm really okay with missing it,” Tony responded.

Pepper sighed and shook her head before looking back to Coulson. “Where are we meeting?”

“Agent Hill knows where,” Coulson said with a smile.

“Agent?” Tony questioned. “I thought she wasn’t SHIELD anymore.”

“I don’t think it’s ever possible to not be a part of SHIELD after you’ve been part of it for so long.”

“Good to know.”

“Don’t sound so paranoid, Stark,” Hill piped up. She looked over to them. “We’ll be over to pick you up from your hotel in three hours. We’ll take you to the Bus then.”

“And I’d pack your bags,” Coulson brought up. “We’ll be going towards Starling City. We’ll drop you off.”

“Okay," Felicity said quietly. “You have our contact information. We will see you then.” Coulson nodded towards them and Felicity returned the nod.

Hill moved towards them. “Let me escort you down.”

Would they discuss things without them? It was completely possible, but Felicity felt like there was some sort of win there with meeting Coulson, Fitz, and Simmons face to face. There were only two others on their list that they hadn’t yet met, but it was obvious that everyone else knew them. She and Oliver were definitely the odd people out.

They moved into the elevator and Hill pressed the button for them.

Felicity was still holding both the TARDIS and Oliver’s hand tight. There were still some doubts as to whether or not she could do this, but she seemed to keep proving it to herself that she could definitely do it. It was just a matter of pushing herself. She had to be the Oracle, that was what it boiled down to.

“The Bus is a plane, by the way,” Hill said after a moment.

“That makes so much sense,” Felicity blurted out.

Hill smirked. “I may still not completely on board with this crazy story, but I have to admit…that TARDIS being the one that Phil was going to give Simmons…that is seriously creeping me out right now.” She nodded her head towards Felicity.

It was creepy.

To her, though, it was the good kind. It felt like it really had validated things for Coulson, even though he hadn’t run the tests (at least not yet) on the letters that she had. Was there REALLY a test that could tell them if the ink and everything was from the future? She knew that they could carbon date things, but could you do it for future things?

“How long have you been a part of SHIELD?” Oliver asked her.

“It seems like my whole life,” Hill replied. She smiled thoughtfully. “But I think the real question you’re trying to ask me is why I left.”

“I was getting to it…”

“When SHIELD fell,” Hill said. “I came to work for the Starks…after far too many hearings to make sure that the governments weren’t going to try to indite me of some kind of crime for being either SHIELD or Hydra. It seemed right. Fury wanted Coulson to start SHIELD over again, but it’s delicate… I would have only been in the way.” She paused for a moment. “Phil’s a good guy, but it would have been too close to having two leaders…and when you’re trying to rebuild something like SHIELD with a vision, it’s better to have ONE rather than two.”

“Do you think we can do it, though?” Felicity asked. Since they had this woman alone and she was being honest with them, Felicity felt like it was worth asking the question. “Saving the future?”

“If it’s just a matter of stopping some scientist and his crazy idea before it reaches world governments, then I think we can do it,” Hill told them. “And then we’ll just have to hope that the altered future is better than the one that we are told will happen otherwise.”

“It has to be,” Felicity said with a slight frown.

“It WILL be,” Oliver assured her as he squeezed her hand lightly and looked over to her.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	17. The Truth Is Out There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Anakinflair

 

 

**The Bus 2015**

 

“Where is the body?” Coulson asked. “I’m sure Simmons would like to examine it.”

“Gone,” Oliver responded quietly. “Destroyed.”

Felicity stood there a bit in shock as she stood next to Oliver. She hadn’t ever questioned what they’d done with her future self’s body. She remembered that Barry had said that Oliver hadn’t wanted her to see it, like a promise to her future self. There had just been so much that had hit her at once, that she just hadn’t second guessed anything.

“Well, that’s rather unfortunate," Simmons said quietly. “There’s a possibility that her body might have given us something more than what’s in the TARDIS.” Jemma smiled brightly all of the sudden. “The TARDIS is a brilliant though.”

“I thought it was rather cliche actually,” Fitz argued.

Sighing, Jemma shook her head. “Fitz—“

“Jemma, you were probably the one who came up with the idea,” Coulson brought up. “It’s feasible to think that the names in that letter are of people that were alive…that helped both of you,” he said to Felicity and Oliver. “Also, it makes me feel like my birthday present choice was even better now that it no only is something Simmons covets for fifteen years, but that it also actually time travels…”

“Maybe we could examine everything you brought?” Simmons asked Felicity. “It’ll be quick, honestly. The letters, we’ll just scan. I doubt the TARDIS will give us any information, but we’ll give it a quick look—“

“Of course,” Felicity said, but at the same time she didn’t want to let any of it go. Before, she’d been wearing not only the ring that Oliver had told her to keep on, but also the locket. She didn’t know if wearing the locket was supposed to make her feel like she the future was going to change, but not completely…or if was to help her really realize her identity as the Oracle. Either way, she was finding that she was becoming more and more protective of it all.

“We have top of the line labs on board,” Simmons said with a smile. “If you’d like to come along and watch? Maybe you’ll have some questions for us?”

“Oh yes! Come along, we can have a discussion about the validity of the TARDIS being used as such a vessel,” Fitz chimed in.

Felicity didn’t miss the look on Simmons’ face or the fact that they were really trying to be welcoming. Maybe they could see or sense her tension. They were trying to be nice and they were about her age, so maybe that made it a little easier. She looked up to Oliver, she was still holding his hand. She hadn’t let go. Suddenly she looked down at their hands as she realized that he was thumbing the ring on her finger. She’d forgotten it was even there and now she found herself reluctant to let them even look it over. Someone, she realized, would notice that the set was missing one and that she was wearing it.

“I’ll be here,” Oliver told her.  
 Nodding, she reluctantly released his hand. Oliver had never been a fan of things that involved science or computers or math or anything along those lines unless it was a result he was looking for. The process, he never found fascinating. Felicity, did, however. Maybe in part to the fact that she was constantly finding the need to learn new things so that Team Arrow was better in one way or another.   “Remind me that we need to talk about each other’s beliefs and traditions some time when things settle down,” she whispered quickly and Oliver looked like he was going to try to respond right then and there, but instead he just nodded once. She smiled a little and then looked over at those who wanted to take her away to their lab.

“It’ll be fine, I’ll keep you company,” the other woman, Coulson had introduced as Skye, told her. “It’ll be A LOT more interesting than whatever they’re going to talk about here.” Skye motioned to the in between area between Coulson, May, and Oliver. “Trust me.”

Felicity really didn’t know how to take that, other than she really didn't want what she’d brought on board to leave her sight. So, she went with them and just reminded herself that Oliver was closely. These people. SHIELD. They were all supposed to help them, but it was hard to put trust in their hands when they were all so close and she and Oliver didn’t know any of them. Trust was a hard thing. She’d found it harder and harder the longer that she was with Team Arrow. There were just so many evils in the world that she was almost more knowledgeable that people couldn’t be trusted like she once trusted.

They moved through the ‘Bus’ and towards the labs. Fitz and Simmons seemed extremely excited, which she thought was cute. Skye was quiet as they walked, but once they were in all in the lab there was quite a commotion that was Fitz and Simmons going a mile a minute and completing each other’s sentences. Felicity just blinked at it all. It was too much to take in.

“Okay!” Skye said loudly and quickly. “Why don’t we introduce ourselves in a less…formal way…” she suggested. “It’ll be fun.”

Fitz and Simmons seemed confused.

“You guys are scaring her.”

“We are?!” Fitz and Simmons asked in unison.

“It’s all a little overwhelming,” Felicity confessed.

“Why don’t we say how we joined our respective organizations?” Skye suggested. “I’ll go first.” She smiled towards Felicity. “I’m Skye. I WAS a hacker…and I got myself into trouble with SHIELD and they ended up recruiting me…”

“Oh, I see…we’re doing cliff notes version,” Fitz said.

“I think it’s for the best.”

“I’m Jemma. I’m a biochemist and geneticist.”

“Everyone calls me Fitz, so Fitz is just fine… I design things…fix things…weapons…gadgets…anything really.”

“Your turn!” Jemma told Felicity a little too cheery.

She suddenly felt like she was at some kind of AA group. Though, Felicity supposed that you really weren’t going to know people unless you opened yourself a bit to them and actually were friendly. Felicity could do that, or at least she thought she could. Stepping forward, she set the TARDIS on the large table in the middle of the lab. Her finger slowly moved to remove the ring on her finger as she spoke. “I’m Felicity. I was working IT for Queen Consolidated…and Oliver kept asking me to do ridiculous things for him…and then eventually he ended up shot in the back of my car…and I just always felt like I could trust him…even when he was lying to me.”

“What kind of lies?” Jemma asked. “Not exactly the best way to start things off, right?”

Felicity smiled a little at the memory of her first meetings with Oliver. “The first time, he came to the IT office with a bullet ridden laptop and told me that he needed the information retrieved off of it…and that he’d spilled coffee on it.”

“But it had bullet holes…”

“I pointed that out,” Felicity recalled. She tilted her head and smiled a little brighter at the memory. “He told me that his coffee shop was in a bad part of town.”

“It really has to help…how good he looks and all,” Skye brought up.

Jemma chimed in now. “I’ll say…he’s quite—“

“Really? Can you all have your talk about your rating system once I’m out of the room?” Fitz complained.

Skye and Jemma both laughed in response and Felicity allowed herself to join in for a moment. It really wasn’t that often that she was able to speak to any other women her age. Sure, there was Sara, but she wasn’t always around. She was still outnumbered at pretty much all times by Diggle and Oliver…not that she minded.

“Can we PLEASE get on with it?” Fitz asked with frustration after a moment.

Nodding, Felicity pulled open the top of the TARDIS and pulled all the letters out first and laid them out on the table. “The Starks still have one. The letter that their future selves had written and signed.” She pulled out the locket last and popped it open, to spill out the three rings and then to make sure that the fourth one made it alongside the others as she lined them up. “This is what I have,” she told them and took a step back.

The tablet came to life as Fitz and Simmons started to scan all of the documents. Fitz was the one who picked up the locket. “Rather weighty.”

“That’s what I thought,” Felicity told him. “But all it is is the locket with the pictures… There’s nothing else to it.”

Simmons took the locket from Fitz and she smiled (Felicity assumed at the pictures inside) for a moment before turning it over. “Perhaps there’s something secret about it… Do the names on either side mean anything to you?”

This was far more of an awkward conversation, Felicity realized when you were with people that you didn’t know. Everyone that she knew, seemed to be like ‘well we knew that was going to happen’ as their response. “Apparently…in the future, Oliver and I get married…”

“Oliver…Queen,” Jemma said and flipped it to that side. “That makes sense.”

“And Oracle?” Skye spoke up.

“Apparently it’s like my codename in the future,” Felicity said slowly. She was appreciating the fact that they were all acting like this was completely normal. Maybe she really could trust these people. Felicity hoped so.

Fitz took the locket back and seemed deep in thought about it, he removed the pictures. Felicity had to stop herself from freaking out over it. She’d expected him to ask before removing them, but he didn’t. The pictures didn’t technically belong to her or her life, but over the last week or so, she’d grown quite attached to them…to that life ahead of her…at least the happy parts.

“Gentle,” Jemma told Fitz.

“What are you thinking?” Skye questioned.

“There’s no reason for it to be this heavy,” Fitz said. “There HAS to be a reason.”

“What kind of a reason?”

“What if it’s more than a locket?”

“More than a locket?”

“What else could it BE, Fitz?” Jemma asked.

“You’re into computers, right?” Fitz asked, but obviously already knew the answer. He didn’t even wait for her to respond before he put the locket under closer inspection.

Her breathing suddenly stopped when she thought Fitz had broken the locket in half at the hinge, Felicity started to internally panic…that was until she realized that the locket opened a bit wider until both sides met. She had no idea how she’d become so emotionally attached to those items. It was like they’d been hers for years…for as long as her future self had had them.

“Oh my—“ Fitz breathed.

“What is it?” Skye questioned.

Felicity just waited and tried not to overreact at anything that was being done to the items that she’d said that she’d allow for them to study. She really needed to sit down. Maybe this would have been better, she thought, if she’d just handed over the TARDIS to them and had waited with Oliver. At least then she’d just be anxious and not practically having a heart attack as they went through everything on such a personal level.

“I think it’s a port.”

That caught Felicity’s attention. She’d looked at that locket so many times…but then she hadn’t tried to move it like Fitz had. She’d taken it for what it was. A locket. A time capsule that held the happy memories for her future self. These were her only happy memories and she’d held them and cared for them for how precious they were. Felicity’s hadn’t through to pry or force anything.

“You think it has information on it?” Skye asked.

“Maybe,” Fitz said with a quick shrug. “We have to figure out how to interface with the port.”

“We can totally do that,” Skye said and moved to the other side of the table. “And if we can’t, then we call in Stark.”

Fitz groaned. “I know he’s Tony Stark and Iron Man and all of that…but he really doesn’t seem like someone I would want to share a lab with.”

“What? He’s brilliant, Fitz!” Jemma reacted. “I can’t believe you said that!”

“He is,” Fitz conceded. “But he’s a bit…egotistical.”

“Isn’t that being a bit harsh?”

“Have you seen him?”

“I really wasn’t thinking about his personality at the time I last looked at him,” Jemma admitted. “He’s got a lot going for him…”

Fitz groaned again. “You girls are enjoying conversing about men far too much…”

“Come on, Fitz,” Skye said. “You can’t tell me you’ve never had conversations about girls…women…growing up…”

“I was quite respective, I’ll have you know.”

There was a good beat of silence before anyone spoke up again. Skye stared at Fitz for a long moment before nodding. “I can see that.”

She was definitely learning about each member of this SHIELD team. Felicity watched as Fitz continued to examine it. “If you can access whatever is on it…if there is something on it…you’re going to need someone to break through the encryption and code,” Felicity said.

“Won’t you have the passwords?” Skye asked. “Since, technically…this is yours?”

“Maybe,” Felicity said. “If not, I can hack it.”

“It might not even be something that you recognize,” Skye brought up.

That was true.

They weren’t going to know anything, though, until they figured out how to access it. Felicity just hoped that they could figure it out. She had no idea how long her future self had had it…it seemed like for at least a decade or so…but that didn’t mean anything. The way to access the information might be completely specialized to something in their time. It was completely possible that this was going to be for nothing.

“This is just going to take some time,” Fitz told them.

Time.

That was something that they had to fight, but right now…right now, they had all the time in the world. This was important and if the locket had information that they needed…then they’d figure out how to crack it. Felicity just hoped that it wouldn’t require them to crack the locket in the process or destroy it in any way.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

The lab was getting a little cramped. Coulson, May, and Oliver had all joined them. Felicity was fairly sure that May was following them everywhere just in case Oliver tried something, but that wasn’t going to happen. They just wanted help…answers…nothing more. Plus, May had already proven that she could take Oliver down if she wanted to. That might not be true every time, but she’d definitely shown she could.

Apparently the Starks were trying to get ahold of Bruce Banner. No one would say anything about Fury. There was something, though, especially between Coulson, May, Hill, and the Starks…like there was something else that wasn’t said. Felicity had felt like they all basically said that publicly Nick Fury was dead, but that they knew better…or that it was likely he was alive…some combination of that.

“While you all are trying to figure out that locket, I figured we could move ahead with Trask,” Coulson said and he used one of the screens to project the information on Trask. “Bolivar Trask. He runs Trask Industries,” Coulson went on. “He HAS been very vocal about he feels about mutants. Not the whole world, but rather at very specific audiences.”

“You mean the government,” Skye spoke up.

Coulson nodded. “Exactly.”

“So…we could be too late?” Felicity asked, worry in her voice. Her inside twisted at the thought of her future self giving up so much only to have failed. There had to be some way to stop things. Nothing was impossible, right?

Not even time travel.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Coulson said. “I can’t access everything, but then…we have you and Skye here…”

“If he’s already started something, though,” Oliver spoke up. “It would look rather suspicious if he just disappeared.”

“We can’t just kill him,” Jemma spoke up.

Normally, Felicity would agree with her. Right now, she was finding it hard to think of him as any kind of a good guy. The only thing she could think was that in the future he was responsible for hundreds, if not thousands or millions of deaths. She didn’t know it all, but she knew enough. Enough to know that he didn’t deserve to live if he couldn’t be changed. “We could lock him up,” Felicity threw out there.

“But we’d need to discredit him publicly first,” Coulson explained. “Which, believe me, SHIELD can do.”

Skye was typing away furiously and finally Coulson’s screen was flooded with new ‘confidential’ information. “It looks like he’s trying to push that they need to have some kind of system into place, but so far, it doesn’t look like he has specifics.”

“These sentinels…they’re more than oversized robots, right? They have to be,” Fitz spoke up. “They’re weapons. Now, you don’t just go out and tell the world’s governments your plan without having something to show them that’s feasible. It IS possible that he’s already in the process of building a prototype using Trask Industries.”

“Okay, on that.”

Felicity felt a little out of place. She could be helping with the hacking, but at the same time this wasn’t her ‘zone’. She didn’t want to touch something, in order to help, only to be told to step away from it. Plus, it didn’t seem like Skye need her help right now. So, she stayed back and she watched as Fitz toyed with the locket.

“I have it,” Fitz announced and the whole room dimmed for a moment. “I have it.” He was beaming and overjoyed by the fact that he’d apparently figured out how to tap into it. The room dimmed again, but then it seemed okay. The screens went black for a moment and then were overtaken with code. “Oh no—no, no, no…”

Her eyes took in the code and she acted before really thinking. Felicity pushed, but not violently, Skye out of the way and immediately started to run her fingers over the keys. She knew this. There was familiar and foreign components to it, but she knew it. It was HER code.

“Felicity?” Oliver asked.

“Give me a minute,” she told him as she continued to type.”

The whole plane seemed to start to having electrical issues. “I’m going to the cockpit,” May said.

“Fitz, I need you to make sure that we’re not going to lose power,” Coulson said.

“Aye,” Fitz replied and immediately left the lab.

They were all background suddenly for her as she worked through the code. This was a fail safe. This was something that her future self had put into whatever the locket contained in order to ensure that the information that it protected didn’t fall into the wrong hands. “Come on, come on,” she whispered as she typed away.

May’s voice suddenly filled the plane. “Coulson—“

“Done,” Felicity said as the lights seemed to go to full power and everything seemed to be back to normal except the screen that had held Trask’s information was now replaced with file names.

“Never mind.”

“What was that?” Skye asked.

“A fail safe,” Felicity told her.

“Pretty crazy fail safe.”

“We’re okay, now, though?” Coulson questioned.

“If you’re asking if the code is going to drop your Bus out of the sky, the answer is no,” Felicity told him. “It just needed to know that I was the one unlocking it.”

“I suppose it’s a good thing that Stark didn’t find it and try it.” Coulson shook his head. “Probably would have shut down his whole tower.”

“If not the entire city,” Felicity said as she looked from Coulson back to the screen. She didn’t wait for a pause. She really didn’t want him to have time to really ponder her words. “There are several files. Most of them look like short video files. There’s some photo files. Nothing else besides those, though…”

“Guess we lucked out with finding the perfect plan on how to fix things,” Skye quipped.

Coulson spoke up. “We’re never that lucky.”

“Let’s play the videos,” Oliver said.

They might not be the ones in charge, but Felicity wanted to know what all of the files contained. So, she didn’t wait for Coulson to agree to it. Instead, she started up the first video. It wasn’t long, but showed what had to be a sentinel. A giant robot was walking along, there was minimal audio and it was clearly distorted, but from what she was hearing…it sounded like screams and the sentinel giving out commands. It ended abruptly.

“Look at the file names,” Jemma spoke up.

“They could be years,” Skye observed.

“That file is the earliest,” Coulson commented.

The first video file with the sentinel was labeled twenty-twenty. Felicity clicked on the one that was labeled twenty-twenty-two, this one was a photo instead of a video. It had been taken at a hospital. She and Oliver were both in the picture with a brand new baby wrapped in pink and a boy that looked so much like Oliver that appeared to be around four or so was sitting up on the bed next to her. She just stared at the picture.

Thomas and Madelyn.

The names that she wouldn’t forget.

“It looks like you saved more than just information about the sentinels,” Coulson said as he looked back at her.

Felicity wiped away the tears that had fallen on their own. “They were her whole world,” Felicity whispered. “She had to keep happy things too…” It was what she would have done. There was just only so much heartache and horror you could see without trying to balance it out. Felicity was certain that if you just let all of the darkness in that you’d change…you’d be dark, a villain…and that’s not who she was.

She couldn’t look at the picture longer, though, she kept thinking about what would come for that happy family. What she’d read about. How each person in her family had died in her arms. The next file was labeled twenty-twenty-four. Another a photo. This one was a better quality of the one that was in the locket. The one where the kids were older. It was taken four years before both of her children were killed.

It was hard.

It shouldn’t be, she thought. She’d somehow connected so strongly with objects and pictures and names of this future life. It was almost like she’d gotten a piece of that future. Oliver moved closer to her. Felicity was certain that he could see how hard it was on her, but it was hard to keep it together even though she wanted to in front of these people that they didn’t yet know. The next file was a video from the same year. It showed the sentinels going after everyone, it didn’t matter if they were mutant or not. It was filled with screams and sentences that mixed together with the screams that just couldn’t be understood. It was then that the camera swung one way and Oliver could be seen. He was trying to direct people and looked directly at the camera and told the camera person before yelling at him. “Put it away! Get the hell out of here!” Oliver had screamed at him. This Oliver was dressed fairly well considering the world seemed to be ending around him and he was scruffy, but he still seemed somewhat groomed. It cut off immediately. It was jarring. It made it so much realer.

Another video file was labeled twenty-twenty-eight. The year that her children were killed. She was a little apprehensive about queuing it to play. She didn’t think it could possibly be a video of all of those children being killed, but she didn’t know and she didn’t think her heart could take it. There was so much evil in the world, but the videos…they made it more tangible and hit so much closer to home (and her heart). She started it and waited a moment before looking up at the screen. It was filled with screams and wails and cries as what sounded like a news report came on to discuss the massacre. Felicity couldn’t bring herself to look up at it, though. She just couldn’t.

“They just killed children?” Jemma asked finally, breaking the silence that had filled the room.

“They were trying to make a statement,” Skye said. She sounded disgusted and sad, all at the same time. “They probably didn’t think that it would push people to go back…to change things…and we will.”

“You’re right,” Coulson said. “We will.”

“There’s a photo and a video. Same year,” Felicity told them. “Which one do you want first?”

“Let’s do the picture,” Coulson responded.

“Are we doing home movies?” Tony Stark’s sarcastic voice silenced the room.

Everyone turned to see the Starks entering, Maria Hill right behind them, and Fitz was back at the edge of the room like he was almost loitering in the doorway. Pepper was glaring at her husband, but he didn’t seem to understand. Felicity supposed that it was hard to really take it in, to take on the weight of it personally when you hadn’t seen the videos or the pictures or really had any kind of connection to what had happened. The letter that Pepper and Tony Stark had both signed, it was merely about accessing their company’s resources, nothing more. Nothing that would tie them emotionally to the cold future.

“Play the video,” Coulson said.

The video started off with a woman standing with their back to them facing a wall that had writing and pictures on it. “You don’t have to do this,” the familiar voice of Leo Fitz said from behind the camera. She had dark hair, that was pretty much all they could tell before she finally turned around and started to talk. She was dressed in SHIELD clothing and seemed so hardened, sad, and cold all at the same time. The woman who turned to them seemed changed somehow, but Felicity immediately recognized her as Maria Hill. She peeked over her shoulder at the woman for a moment. It was clear that the video had caught her attention as well as the Starks’.

The video continued.

“No, we need to do this,” Maria said. “We’re sending someone back…and if we can somehow manage to get this video back, then it’ll be worth it. It’ll help let them know that this was all real. That this is a hell that they all need to strive at every opportunity to avoid.”

“What do you want to do first?”

“Let’s talk here,” Maria told him and moved to the side. “If you’re getting this, then we’ve somehow made the damn thing work and someone’s gone back. I hope it’s Pepper. That’s who I think Fury and Coulson are leaning towards.” She paused for a moment. “Whoever goes back, I don’t know how long they’ll have, but I wanted to show you WHY we’re doing this.”

The focus immediately went to the wall behind her. “This is our memorial wall. Well, one of them. This is in memorial of all of the children that were massacred two years ago,” Maria continued. Fitz seemed to be taking his time going over it, showing as many names and pictures as he could. “Fitz, focus it over here,” Maria said. She pointed to the wall. Above all the names on that wall, in large letters was ‘In Memorial of The Greatest Heroes Lost - 2024’. Fitz focused the camera where she wanted it, however you could still see Maria in the shot. Her emotions seemed to be ranging from trying to hold it together to totally losing it. She sucked in a deep breath and started. “When this all broke out…we thought it would blow over…it never did…it just got worse.” She stopped like she was trying to hold it together.

Felicity’s first impressions of Maria Hill had been that she was very much a solider. She was hard, tough, and didn’t take crap from anyone…not even Tony Stark (who was her boss). Now, she could see this vulnerable woman who almost seemed broken. It hit her, maybe this was what they all needed…to know that they had a connection to this dark future that they wanted to fight to avoid.

“I was supposed to protect them,” Maria said evenly. “I didn’t have the armor or the ability to transform into a green angry beast, but I was supposed to protect those most precious to us.” She was silent for what stretched on for several minutes. “I failed.” Silence took over as tears just streamed down her face. “We were heading to safety. To the SHIELD facility. We were going to be safe…and they came out of nowhere. Sentinels. They killed Happy. They killed Betty.” Silence stretched on like she was trying to hope away the truth of what else happened. “They killed Kylie…and Ethan…” She let out a sob. “They were so little. They didn’t have to kill them. They didn’t have to kill any of them… I thought I could save Sophia and Charlie…I thought we were going to make it…but we didn’t…” She shook her head. “I told them all these stories about SHIELD… About Fury and Coulson and his team… And the last thing Sophia told me before she was gone…before I passed out…was that Fury would come…” She broke down completely then. You could see the pictures behind her and the names clearly on the wall.

Kylie Banner  
Ethan Stark  
Charlotte “Charlie” Stark  
Sophia Stark

“We should probably stop,” Fitz spoke up from behind the camera.

“We can’t…not yet,” Maria told him. “Just give me a minute.”

It seemed like Fitz had taken the initiative to move around the memorial area, moving past the names of the children on the one wall to other places of memorial for those who had apparently fallen because of the sentinels and the governments. To lose children, though, Felicity could understand why that would make more of an emotional impact on everyone, even if they weren’t YOUR children. If you were connected in some way to someone and they lost their child…their whole world…that could destroy them.

Was that why they’d done it?

To destroy everyone they were seeking?

To destroy or soften those they wanted information from?

No matter the outcome the government may have wanted, it all seemed so senseless. She understood, though, why they were considered the greatest heroes that had been lost. They were their FUTURE. They were the generation that would have been stronger than them. They were the ones that had so much hope and innocence and goodness in them. They were heroes for just surviving in that hell.

It couldn’t happen.

It wouldn’t.

The video seemed to have been stopped and then started again in a different location. A lab. She could see herself, her future self, she was working with Simmons and the TARDIS was well in sight on the work space they were at. Simmons kept looking over her shoulder and then back towards the camera before she finally spoke up.   “Don’t anger him,” Jemma whispered to the camera.

“We won’t,” Maria responded.

In the background, there was a very different Tony Stark working on what had to be what brought her future self back to the past to fix things. His hair was cut shorter than it was now and there was a very noticeable zigzag scar that ran along the side of his skull and no hair grew there anymore it seemed. He seemed quite distracted with what he was doing. Behind him, Pepper could be seen and the man in the family picture next to Kylie Banner on the memorial, so Felicity was certain he was Bruce Banner. He had his arm around Pepper while her head lay against his shoulder. She seemed exhausted and Felicity just wasn’t sure what to make of it. It seemed like Banner was friends with the Starks, but then it seemed like maybe it was something more. It had to do with the body language that they were giving off, Felicity wasn’t quite sure how to accurately describe it.

“We’ve been working all hours to try to finish it,” Fitz spoke up from behind the camera.

“But right now Felicity and I are the only ones doing the work,” Jemma whispered.   “You two aren’t still discussing how TARDIS is the best codename for the project, are you?”

Jemma and Felicity seemed amused by this. “Just remember, whoever is chosen, their codename WILL have to be THE DOCTOR.”

“Oh, Jemma…”

That was it. That was the video. Done and over like that.

“Well, crap,” Tony finally spoke up breaking the silence and tension. “Did you see that scar? That’s definitely not one of those scars that impresses.” Felicity looked back over at them just in time to see Pepper shake her head in disapproval. She could tell that Tony wasn’t done yet. And he wasn’t. “And was I the only one that missed the fact that my best friend apparently puts his hands all over my wife in the future…”

“Are you going to hold that against us now?” Pepper questioned, clearly not amused.

“I was thinking about it.”

“Does any of it really matter?”

“It matters that everything went to hell,” Tony said. “And we’re not going to let that happen.”

“So, you all believe me now?” Felicity asked as she looked around the room. For some reason, it was important to her that everyone that was on board believed in what they were doing. There was something about being well informed that made her feel better about things. She could tell without anyone saying a word that there was now no doubts.

“What about the final picture?” Coulson finally asked.

Felicity brought it up. It was a picture of the memorial wall. The wall of the children’s names.

“Can you enlarge it and still keep the quality?”

It only took Felicity a moment before she enlarged and divided the image so that it kicked around the screens that popped up around the room. When her eyes came upon the names of their children, new tears tried to fall when she noticed that there was a copy of the picture in the locket, the last picture that her future self had of her family was up there next to Thomas and Madelyn’s names.

“Pick a name,” Coulson said. “Or a set of them. It doesn’t have to be your child… It’s obvious that not all of us have children in this future…”

“Or are around,” Skye commented.

“We all need to fight for something…for someone with this new project. We need motivation,” Coulson continued. “Find someone that you’re willing to fight for.”

It was then that Felicity noticed that Thomas and Madelyn were not the only names she’d recognized. She recognized their last names, first, though, of course. Presley Lance. She didn’t know if that was Sara or Laurel’s child, but whoever the child belonged to…they were fighting for Presley, too. Felicity pointed out the names to Oliver. Andrew and Bennett Diggle were up there as well.

“God,” Oliver said low enough that only she could hear him.

This wasn’t going to happen.

These children. All of them. They’d live. They’d thrive. They’d change the world for the better.

Oliver wrapped his arm around her and held her close. It was nice to have that close contact with him, even if it was brief. “It won’t happen,” Oliver whispered to her as he kissed the side of her head. “The kids will live… They’ll be happy. Safe. Loved. All of them.” He was quiet for a moment. “All of our kids are all going to be best friends, you’ll see…”

“I want to believe.”

“Then believe.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 TBC…


	18. The Best Advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maria Hill POV chapter

 

 

**The Bus - 2015**

 

It was too much.

Maria Hill was fairly sure that that was a statement that she would never make or think. The fact remained, it was true. The future that was presented to her, it was all too real. Everything that she’d seen. Everything that she knew was out there. Maria knew that that future wasn’t only real…but it was downright possible. It was clear to her, from what she saw from Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen that this evidence they had from the future wasn’t something that they were trying to pull over on them. At first, she’d been skeptical…but now…not she had no reservations.

How were they going to pull it off?

The list of names of children…some with pictures of their families next to them kept haunting her. The story that she heard and saw her future self tell…that haunted her too. Since SHIELD fell to Hydra, she’d decided to stay with the Starks. It had been the best step for her because of her position in what had been SHIELD under Fury’s command. She was going to have eyes on her for some time and Maria had figured that she might as well do something worth doing with people who weren’t going to give a crap about her background.

“Can we talk?”

In all honesty, Maria had expected it to be Pepper. She’d grown close to the Starks since working for them, but Pepper was just one of those people who made you feel like family when you didn’t have one. Once, Maria Hill, had had a family with SHIELD…but now they were scattered and hidden away…so the Starks were her family now. There was something nice about it, something that felt almost normal. Maria had never thought she’d be okay with normal, but it wasn’t so bad.

“I hadn’t expected it to be you,” Maria said as she pushed away tears before finally she turned around to face him.

Phil smiled. “For a moment, I thought I was going to have to fight Pepper for it.”

“I hope you have a good speech after all of that,” Maria commented as she crossed her arms.

“I just gave it,” Phil told her as he motioned out the door. “But you’re not one who has to look at that wall of names and pictures and figure out who you’re going to do this all for. You have their names already.”

“Sophia Stark. Charlie Stark. Ethan Stark. Kylie Banner,” Maria recited. It was as if she had known those names all her life. They rolled off her tongue like nothing. She had failed those children. That was what haunted her. It wasn’t the fact that anyone else had died EXCEPT those children. “They were innocents,” she said a bit too emotionally. Her voice broke and anger hit again.

“I know,” Phil responded. “So many in this world ARE.”

“I don’t even know how any of us LIVED in that world—“

“We didn’t,” he said. He almost sounded like he knew exactly what had happened in that world and what they were all thinking. Maria wasn’t sure if she appreciated that or if it infuriated her. Her emotions were just all over the place it was hard to really concentrate and keep things straight. “We were dead…all of us…just clinging to the tiniest of hopes…hoping to make a difference…hoping to save lives…hoping that somehow…we could do something unthinkable,” Coulson told her. “And we DID. Right now, that’s all that counts. That we take advantage of that unthinkable miracle that happened…and that we keep all of that horror from happening…”

Maybe she just felt guilty for not believing Felicity Smoak right away. Had she wasted time? Sometimes she wished that she wasn’t so skeptical. In some ways, Maria was certain that Pepper had made her less cautious with people, but when something so crazy comes into play…Maria just couldn’t let go of how she would look at it if she were still a SHIELD agent.

They were all still SHIELD agents.

SHIELD was out there.

Phil was rebuilding it.

“Did you ever think we’d be dealing with time travel?” Maria asked him honestly.

“Yes.”

“Seriously?”

“With everything we’ve seen,” Phil told her as he took another step towards her, his hands in his pockets. “How can I not think that EVERYTHING is possible? How can you not?”

Maria thought about that for a moment. He was right. Maybe she just had been living in the world where what was going on with the Starks was enough to fuss about. Sure, Stark kept track of things that interested the Avengers, but she wasn’t out there in it all. She wasn’t fighting Hydra or going up against the bad in the world. It was nice, but was it making her soft?

“How could I have failed them?” Maria asked him.

Failing those children was really what was killing her.

“From the sounds of it. You were with an escort that included Iron Man and the Hulk and probably War Machine. If those sentinels could take them all out in some form, do you really expect you to be able to go up against them?” Coulson asked. His voice was sad and full of concern. “You can’t beat yourself up for something that hasn’t happened yet, Maria.”

“Phil, we can’t let it.”

“We won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you have your four motivations,” Phil reminded. “If you need to make it more real…go look at the picture of Pepper, Tony, and those kids… I think the Banners’ picture is something they can zoom in on on that picture of the memorial wall.” He was quiet for a moment as she thought about it. Would it make it easier or harder or would it really make her more determined? “Those kids are going to grow up…to outlive all of us… They’re going to be world leaders… YOU are going to be a part of making that happen. If the bad is too hard to hold onto, then think about all the good they could do… What they’ll all grow up to become.” He was quiet again. “And YOU will be apart of what they will become, Maria. Don’t think that just because they aren’t biologically YOUR children, that you won’t have any part in shaping them.”

“What do we do now?”

“We have faith in each other and we work out a plan.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“We’re already ahead of this thing,” Coulson pointed out. "We know the name of the scientist. We know the project that brings about the end of days…”

“Normally, I’d argue that that’s a pretty grim perspective on things,” Maria told him. “But I think that’s pretty fair.”

“I thought so.”

“So, we doing this together?”

“I’m not SHIELD anymore.”

Coulson smirked. “Let’s be honest, Maria. Once you’re in SHIELD, you’re an agent for life.”

Now Maria was the one smirking. “Some of us are unfortunate enough to be promoted to director.”

“You’d think more people would listen to me…but really, not so much.”

Maria laughed. She’d missed Phil. He’d always been a good man and she understood why Fury had chosen him to take his place. It took a person that wasn’t so serious about themselves, it took someone who inspired others and could lead, and it took someone who cared about everyone in their command. Phil Coulson was definitely one of those people. He thought of everyone as family, which meant weakness…but it also meant strength.

“You could always bribe them with food…captive audience,” she teased.

Coulson seemed to seriously consider that. “Too bad they don’t deliver pizza at this altitude,” he said with a smile.

“Let’s go make a plan.”

He reached out and touched her shoulder. “We will save them, Maria. I promise you that.”

“I feel like we should be promising that to Pepper and Tony…to Bruce,” Maria told him. “To Oliver and Felicity…to all of the parents on that list.”

“I think Oliver and Felicity already know. The others, well…Tony, Pepper, and Bruce aren’t going to let that happen now that they know it’s coming…”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“I’m thinking that we should start off by locating Trask,” Coulson started.

They’d all gathered together. It was actually pretty crowded. Even May had joined them, the Bus was on autopilot for the time being. They were still en route to Starling City, that hadn’t changed. Maria had positioned herself close to Pepper and Tony, it was something that had become habit. It was just odd for her not to have Happy around. She found herself missing him and then being saddened at the memory that her future self had said that he’d died in front of her too.

“Trask may have already started building these sentinels,” Tony brought up. “Even if they’re just prototypes, they’re still dangerous. It means they’re out there.”

“We also have to make sure that we seize all blueprints,” Fitz added.

Skye sighed. “This guy is the head of Trask Industries… How are we honestly going to work this? He’s in charge. People are going to notice if we just pick him up and detain him. Plus, with all of the capital he has…he could be hiding prototypes and blueprints anywhere.”

“We could always infiltrate Trask Industries,” Felicity suggested. She looked over to Skye. “You and I could find our way to the servers…it would give us information…and if nothing else, it would give us leads to where Trask actually has his assets stored.”

“You’re not going undercover,” Oliver argued.

Felicity didn’t seem pleased by this and glared at him, but really didn’t seem angry at him. It was more irked. “Oliver—“

“She’s an adult,” Tony spoke up now. Tony always knew the best thing to say that would start a fight. Most of them knew Stark well enough to try to avoid those or just navigate their way away. Maria was fairly sure that that wasn’t what was going to happen between Tony and Oliver. “If she wants to go in and hack things…then I say let her…OR we could just use JARVIS.”

“What’s a JARVIS?” Felicity asked.

That was enough time, though, for Oliver to move quickly enough to push Tony up against a wall before anyone could react. “You don’t get to make that call!”

“Oliver! Oliver! Let him go!” Felicity shouted at him as she moved to his side.

It was clear that Felicity wasn’t used to Oliver being THAT protective, but Maria had noticed that he had been protective of her since they’d gotten to New York. It had to be hard for them to be in such a strange environment with strangers that they needed to trust. Normally, she’d be the one peeling Oliver Queen off of Tony Stark, but Coulson and May were already on it.

“Okay! Okay!” Coulson shouted. “Let’s take fifteen minutes! Everyone calm down!”

Maria just watched as Pepper took Tony and then Felicity took Oliver to a separate area. Maybe the two couples were more alike than they realized. Hopefully they’d all calm down. Right now, Maria decided that she was going to take advantage of the time that Coulson was giving them. She moved out of the room they’d been meeting in and headed away from everyone else.

She just needed to breathe.

And think.

And focus.

Maria just needed things to make sense.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“You okay?”

They’d spent hours trying to come up with the best plan of attack, but they hadn’t gotten too far. Tony and Oliver had ended up arguing a lot and generally just getting into it. Coulson had ordered everyone to take a break and that they’d discuss things again once they were in Starling City. Maria wasn’t sure how good of an idea it was to bring Bruce into this, but he would be meeting up with them in Starling City.

What they really needed to do was to stop Bolivar Trask. They just needed to come up with the correct way to go about that, as well as actually tracking down Trask. They just had to hope that none of his projects were out in the world that could lead to the sentinels. Even though they had a nice buffer between now and when the sentinels made an appearance in the future, Maria couldn’t just assume that he hadn’t already started down that path.

“You didn’t seem quite yourself.”

And Pepper was right. Maybe it was just the video that was still heavily weighing on her mind, though more likely was her head pounding had mainly originated from Tony and Oliver’s screaming match. That didn’t mean, though, that all the thoughts about the future weren’t weighing on her because they were.

“I guess I just don’t know what I’m doing yet,” Maria spoke up.

Pepper moved across the room and sat down next to Maria. “I know we haven’t known each other that awful long, but I think we can agree we’re friends, right?”

Maria looked up at Pepper and gave her a small smile. She’d been in the boys club for so long in her life, it had been so nice working for Pepper and considering her a friend. Pepper was intelligent and fierce and yet very much a sensitive soul. Natasha Romanov had really been the only one who had come close to being her friend who was also female. The thing with Natasha was that Maria never got to see her consistently. Though, Maria was fairly sure that Coulson would be reaching out to all of the Avengers, so maybe Natasha would be brought into all of this…Maria just hoped that the other Avengers could help them all rein in Tony (unless Pepper had already done it, it was her super power).

“Yes, we’re definitely friends,” Maria replied.

“The information that FitzSimmons, Skye, and Felicity found…it absolutely terrifies me,” Pepper told her, her eyes never leaving her. “You know how it’s been. A lot has gone on over the years and it seemed like Tony and I were never going to make the step to get married…”

“He went through a lot after New York.”

“He did.” Pepper was quiet for a moment. Maria swore that Pepper could see into souls and just knew exactly what to say. If Pepper was apart of SHIELD, she and Coulson would be unstoppable. “And I think that we’re all having a hard time adjusting to just how drastically the world seems to be changing.”

“I’m terrified, too.”

Maria wouldn’t have admitted that to just anyone. The only other person that she was likely to admit it to would be Coulson or maybe May. She was always the one who had to be strong and to be thinking clearly. The problem right now was that all of this had her thinking anything, but clearly. When the Triskelion had fallen, she had thought that that was terrifying. When Hydra had effectively taken down SHIELD because no one in the world trusted SHIELD was actually SHIELD anymore, she’d thought that was terrifying.

Then she’d been hired by Tony and Pepper.

“You believed Felicity when we were in New York,” Maria brought up. She didn’t understand how Pepper could just believe her. There were so many people out in the world that could and would target the Starks.

Pepper didn’t speak at first. It was like she was coming up with the correct response. “I just sort of just knew… I know that someone could have forged those papers, but it was almost like deja vu. I could see myself writing it. Like I had some kind of connection to it.”

“You know that that future isn’t happening now,” Maria found herself saying. Maybe she just felt like she needed to put that out there after seeing that video. They all had and Maria kept thinking that she was going to fail Pepper and Tony. That she was going to fail this new family she was apart of. Right now, Maria really wished that she could un-see the video…and the photos.

“I haven’t thought about a family…kids, I mean…in a while, you know?” Pepper brought up. It wasn’t really a question, she was just talking. “Tony and I have been trying to figure out our future together. Where do we live? What are our priorities? What are we missing?” Pepper smiled and was quiet. “We talked about kids after the wedding. I haven’t ever thought of Tony as a father…” She tilted her head. “Well, that statement isn’t ENTIRELY true. I’ve thought about him fathering children with his previous one-night stands—“

“That’s understandable,” Maria said with a small smile. Tony Stark had a past, it was definitely not a beautiful one, but he had changed. Pepper had changed him. He was a good man, though a handful (pretty much all of the time). “But I understand.”

“I think Tony would be a good one,” Pepper continued. “I think children terrify him, though.”

“Didn’t he have one helping him when the whole Mandarin thing happened?”

Pepper smiled. “Yes, but that’s not exactly the same as having your own children. Of repeating the mistakes your parents made with you. Tony loves his parents, but they weren’t exactly there for him when he was growing up.” She paused. “I think Tony’s worried that he will fail our children.”

“I know that you’d both fight for them.”

That was the truth.

They always talked about how fierce mothers were, but Maria Hill was certain that Pepper and Tony Stark would be the type of parents that would do anything and everything to keep their children safe. They would travel to the ends of the earth by foot, if that was what it took to ensure that their children were kept safe.

“And I know you, Maria,” Pepper said gently and sweetly. “You would fight for them…just as fiercely as Tony and I would…that is, if you decide that we’re still good company by the time we have kids…”

“Tony might have the right idea of being terrified of children,” Maria pointed out. It wasn’t really just in general, it was just four of them. Four children. Four children that her future self was supposed to protect and keep safe, but instead…they were all killed in front of her…and somehow…she’d survived. Surviving was really the hardest part, it always was.

“What we all need to focus on right now is keeping the sentinels from being built,” Pepper said firmly. “We need to keep the governments from massacring innocents.” She was quiet as she seemed to really think about things. “We honestly might need to work with the United Nations, to try to unify governments…create a world government.”

“When are the sentinels supposed to be around?”

“Few years, I think.”

“That’s not long to change the world, Pepper.”

“Nothing’s impossible.”

“You’re right.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“What do you think about this all?”

May just stared ahead. They were nearly to Starling City and the Bus was getting in the correct position for wherever they were going to land. Maria had thought about asking how that was going to work, but then this was SHIELD. They’d make a landing area if they needed it.

“Right,” Maria agreed. “The real issue is going to be holding everyone together.”

That was completely valid. They had a hard enough time getting the Avengers to cooperate the first time they worked together, this was pretty much the same. Maria just hoped that Natasha, Clint, Steve, and even Thor would be joining them. This was a big deal for Earth, which she had to assume might affect places like Asgard. Also, they could just use all the help that they could get.

“Stark and Queen are definitely going to be the ones that we’re going to butt heads through this entire process,” Maria said with a nod. “I know that between Pepper and I…and possibly Bruce, depending on how Tony reacts when he sees him…since he thinks that Bruce and Pepper cheat on him in the future…” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. Maybe none of them should have seen that video. It would be less complicated, but then at the same time…would they all have found motivation in the pictures alone? In the letters written in familiar hands?

May remained silent still.

“You’re right. Stark will calm down. I’m sure that Felicity can calm down Queen.” She paused for a moment as she thought about it. “All I keep thinking about is how different we all are. Queen’s got his own team because of his vigilante life as the Arrow. Then there’s this team here on the Bus. You guys all do things a certain way. And then there’s Stark…and the rest of the Avengers…if they reassemble for this.” She turned to look directly at May. “Do you think they’ll reassemble? Even if it’s not Fury’s call…because you know…he’s ‘dead’.”

May’s eyebrow arched.

“You’re right. It’s the world and the future we’re talking about, so of course they’ll assemble.”

Her eyebrow relaxed.

“You know, I have to say,” Maria said with a smile. “You really are the best person to talk to. You always give the best advice.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

TBC…


	19. Patience is a Virtue

 

 

**Foundry - 2015**

 

It was nice to be home. Felicity hadn’t expected to feel such relief when they’d entered Starling City airspace, even if it had been on the helicarrier. No matter, it was home to her. Being with Coulson’s team was definitely interesting. It wasn’t like she didn’t have people to talk to, she did. Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz had been the easier ones to talk to, while Tony Stark was brilliant and had far too big a head. No matter, Stark was still at the top of his field. Each of them came together and complimented each other in different way. Then there was Skye, she was a hacker turned SHIELD agent…even between her and Skye…they had different strengths and different experiences. Being a hacker didn’t mean that you could be interchanged with another hacker.

“Don’t we have a maximum capacity or something?” Roy muttered.

It was tight.

Claustrophobic even.

“I doubt anyone’s calling the fire marshall,” Felicity responded as she spun a bit in her chair. There was something nice about being able to sit in HER chair. It also meant her own space. Right now, she was glad to have that space.

“We need the help,” Oliver told Roy.

Roy spoke up and no one could really argue with his point. “Uh, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but you have a hard enough time teaming up with Team Flash, Oliver.”

Felicity was blushing and slowly turning herself in the chair, so that she was no longer facing Oliver. She tapped the armrest of her chair, but she didn’t miss how Oliver’s face scrunched up when she looked back to see his reaction.

“We don’t call them Team Flash,” Oliver argued.

“Team Arrow. Team Flash,” Roy rattled off. “Don’t they have team names?”

“Avengers. Agents of SHIELD,” Coulson offered up with a smile. Felicity had noticed that Phil Coulson was a man who took a lot of pride in the organizations he allied himself with. That was good, it meant that he was dedicated and not one to sway from his cause.

“There’s also Stark Industries represented,” Tony pointed out.

Pepper shook her head in response. “Tony, you’re PART of the Avengers.”

“But YOU aren’t.”

“The REAL question should be why Pepper isn’t running SHIELD yet,” Coulson added.

“I’m CEO of Stark Industries and in charge of keeping Tony in line—“ Pepper rattled off.

“Hey!” Tony complained. “I’m not THAT bad.” He paused. “Most of the time.”

“It’s REALLY a full time job.” Pepper and Tony exchanged looks and Coulson just seemed more and more amused by the moments that passed.

“We have a mission,” Felicity spoke up, reminding everyone. Her words weren’t harsh or really commanding, but they seemed to capture the attention of everyone in the Foundry. They could all banter later, but right now…they needed to push forward. “We have time to figure out the help we need along the way…and who we need it from—“

“I know that you’ve worked with ARGUS in the past, but I’d prefer that you didn’t call them in right away,” Coulson interrupted.

“Why?” Diggle asked, defensiveness obvious in his voice.

“Just…until we make the first couple of moves at least,” Coulson said. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful…but let’s be honest…it’s likely going to be hard enough for us all to work together as it is without adding in your Team Flash and ARGUS.”

Silence.

“He’s right,” Oliver said and looked between their team. “Right now, we have to do it THIS way.” He was quiet for a moment as his eyes were on Diggle, so were hers. Felicity just waited. She knew that Oliver wasn’t done talking. Oliver got quiet all of the sudden, his voice gentle as he spoke to his friend. “Right now, this needs to remain between us…because of everything that we found out…and once you see it…you’ll understand, John.”

“Maybe that’s what we need to start with…” Felicity spoke up after the awful silence was too much to bear.

“We’ve already been over that,” Tony inserted a bit harshly.

“Not EVERYONE knows what they’re fighting for yet,” Coulson reminded.

“Patience, Tony,” Pepper added.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Patience was a hard thing.

Grappling with the dark future that her other self had come from was harder. Things in the Foundry had been quiet for a while. Coulson and his people had left, but Coulson had told them that he’d be leaving behind Pepper Stark, Tony Stark, Maria Hill, and Doctor Bruce Banner. Felicity had Pepper’s contact information, so she knew how to get in touch with them. It had hit Diggle harder than any of the others. It wasn’t surprising, though.

“I have a kid?” Sara asked.

“Apparently,” Oliver responded. “Or Laurel…but we’re fairly sure it’s yours… Everyone on that list…they’re all people who have connections in the hero world, or at least that’s what Coulson said.”  “Wow…”

Vodka and glasses had been pulled out and it seemed like everyone was doing better with a drink. Felicity had stayed quiet. She knew that this was hard for everyone. Everyone seemed to have a hard stake in it, a personal one, except Roy. They had no idea what happened to Roy and Thea in the future, which Felicity felt like it made it scarier. They were a family, though, which meant that no matter…Roy was an ‘uncle’ to her and Oliver’s children, to Diggle and Lyla’s children, and to Sara’s child.

Felicity had already had one shot and that was enough. They still had work to do. Of course, she’d also had longer to take in all the information. She’d already knew about her future, about her children, and how they died. Knowing that Diggle would have another child and that both of his children would die…that had to be absolutely terrifying. Felicity just…being home…it made it all harder.  
 They had time.

She kept reminding herself of that fact.

They had time.

“I need some air,” Felicity said.

Oliver seemed like he was about to argue, but he just stopped and gave her a slight nod. She knew what he was asking, if she was okay…if she wanted to him go with her. He was worried. Felicity was worried for all of them. The future was dark and grim, but they were determined to change it.

Her children would live.

All the children would live.

“I’ll just be a few minutes,” she promised before climbing the stairs.

There wasn't a lot to do in the parking lot of Verdant. Felicity just leaned against her car, hands in the pockets of her plum colored coat as she stared upward at the star lit sky above, and just breathed. She pushed the air from her lungs and watched it it formed an almost frothy kind of puff into the cold night air.

“Do you mind company?”

Sara’s voice scared her and she jumped at first, which was almost immediately followed by a quiet apology. Felicity looked over at the other woman and as she stared at her, all she could wonder was how could they do what they did…take and kill the child of a woman that was so strong? Someone who had been trained by the League of Assassins? If Sara hadn’t been able to shield Presley, then could she really hope to save Tommy and Madelyn?

“I’ll be quiet,” Sara offered.

“I just—“

“Needed to think?”

Felicity nodded and looked back up at the sky. “I keep telling myself that I’m strong enough, that we have time, that things will change…but I can’t know that for sure…” She shook her head. “I keep thinking that watching everyone I love die in my arms…that it’s something like a combination of my father leaving coupled with every single moment where Oliver’s nearly died. Still, I don’t think that that comes anywhere close to it.”

“Maybe not,” Sara conceded as she stood right beside her. “But you’re stronger than you think.”

A smile graced her lips. “So…everyone keeps telling me.”

“Do you trust me?”

Her friend’s question was serious and Felicity couldn’t help but look directly at her. Their blue eyes meeting. She’d loved Sara since the moment she’d met her. Sara hadn’t loved herself, but Felicity liked to think that they had a hand in helping her do that. Felicity looked up to Sara and liked to think that their relationship was a lot like having a sister. One thing that she knew for sure, though, was that she trusted her. “With my life.”

“So, trust me when I say that you’re strong enough,” Sara told her seriously. “And you’re not going to be alone. You know that. You’re never alone.”

“I keep seeing the names…and the pictures next to them.”

“I suppose that having just a name might be easier than having a picture.”

Felicity hadn’t even thought of that. “There has to be a reason why—“

“I’m not worried about it,” Sara told her quickly with a wave of a hand. “Spoilers, right?”

“Spoilers.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“Seriously…WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”

Felicity closed her eyes and started to count to ten in her head. Though, once she got to ten and looked over to where Tony Stark was standing, she was starting to think that ten wasn’t a high enough number. She noticed Bruce Banner, who was sitting right next to her seemed to be checking Stark too.

“Tony…you know that we’re not at Stark Tower, right?” Bruce asked. “There’s no JARVIS—“

“There should be!” Tony flailed for a moment. “I mean, who works like this?!”

“You should have seen it when I first signed on,” Felicity mumbled.

Tony turned to her, hands still flailing about. “If you tell me that you use dial-up, I’m going to walk!”

“The system is pretty good, thank you very much,” Felicity snapped a bit. She didn’t know how Pepper could be married to this man. He was so infuriating. Pepper and Maria had asked Bruce SEVERAL times if he was certain that they’d be okay (him and Tony) and Bruce had seemed hesitant to respond affirmatively…and now Felicity understood why. The computers down in the Foundry ran faster than the computers at Queen Consolidated. She knew that Stark was all about tech, but unless he was going to donate some of his special tech, then she was ready to tell him that he needed to shut his mouth or leave.

“It’s inferior!”

“Tony,” Bruce said quietly.

“Don’t even start about how you were working in some third world country with not even a cell phone and you managed to heal the sick!”

Bruce sighed. “You don’t need a cell phone to heal people, Tony.”

“But I made you all those cool apps.”

“What’s taking Pepper so long with lunch?”

Pepper shared Bruce’s exact thoughts. Maybe she should have asked Oliver or Diggle or even Sara to stay behind and hang out. Of course, she was fairly sure that Oliver and Sara would have been over Stark long before she was ready to snap at him. He was arrogant and egotistical and—

The door at the top of the stairs swung open and the sound of heels clicking and clacking against the stairs brought immense relief to Felicity. The tension in her body was already fading as she relaxed in the computer chair and just let it lean back. Not like they were actually getting anything done, not with Tony having a meltdown.

“Well, all three of you are still alive,” Maria Hill declared as she hit the bottom step. “That’s something.” She checked her watch. “I had said that we’d get a call by the time we made it to the car.”

“Tony’s been…” Bruce seemed to try to be choosing the right words. “He’s been…”

“What have I been?” Tony asked, nearly daring Bruce to say something wrong.

Felicity was fairly sure that Tony was still being grumpy, jealous, and overprotective since finding out that apparently in the future…he’s had some kind of brain injury and Pepper and Bruce have seemed to have gotten close. She tilted her head as she watched Maria set the bags down on the metal table and Pepper approach Tony. She wasn’t going to lie. “He was throwing a fit.”

“I was not!”

“You were.”

Tony just stared at her for a long time.

“Said our systems were inferior.”

“They are!”

“I think he’s missing his JARVIS.”  
 Tony looked back at Pepper, who was caressing his shoulder. “I AM missing JARVIS, that’s true…and their systems ARE inferior to mine…”

Pepper sighed. “So are SHIELD’s.”

“But they’re closer—“

“Tony, if you’re really having that hard of a time using the technology they have here, then I suggest you make some calls and have Happy make the necessary purchase and shipping requests in order to have whatever you want brought here.”

Tony just blinked. “Really?”

Felicity sighed. She really felt Pepper’s pain. Sometimes people who had their names on buildings seemed to lack some common sense. She chalked it up to having everything handed to them. They might be geniuses (or not), but they lacked a certain kind of experience when it came to living and thriving in the world that everyone else lived in. It wasn’t all about what they did in the highest tower.

“You know, you COULD download your JARVIS into our systems, I could get another stack of servers,” Felicity offered as she motioned to all the ones that they already had on hand. “If it’s not enough storage space.”

“No, no…if we’re going to do this…then we’re going to do this right,” Tony told her. “Don’t worry,” he said with a smirk in her direction. “You’ll thank me.”

“We COULD ask STAR Labs for help with processing and tasking things,” Felicity reminded. “Team Flash already knows what’s going on…and it seems like everyone in the world is constructing some kind of robot or armor suit. Apparently everyone thinks they can be Iron Man.”

“That’s where they’re wrong,” Tony assured her.

“Am I?” Felicity questioned. “There have been some people have been coming fairly close to your armor suits…”

Bruce seemed to turn the other way, obviously trying not to be in that conversation. “Most of them have also ended up in jail,” Tony pointed out.

“Just pointing out that you’re not the only one with a good idea…”

“You know, I can MAKE a job opening,” Tony offered.

Felicity beamed in that moment. “I am touched that you would offer me one, but I think I’d be suing for hostile workplace in a snap.”

“That’s a good point,” Bruce spoke up.

Pepper just seemed amused as Tony sat there with his hand raised and his mouth sort of open. “Working closely with Tony Stark is…definitely something close to an art form.”

“Or torture.”

“She was trying to be nice,” Tony told his friend.

Bruce shrugged. “I know. I was trying to be honest.”

Maybe this was it. The hurdle that they needed to get over so that they could successfully work together. No matter, now they had food, and at the very least she hoped that that would keep Stark from complaining for a few minutes.

“I don’t know…she managed to keep her cool this entire time,” Maria Hill spoke up. “Everyone has to start somewhere…”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

TBC…


	20. First Steps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I seemed to have dropped off of the planet. I had moving and stress and then NaNo hit. I’m normally good about forewarning people about NaNo starting, but there’s been far too many migraines. I also might have accidentally thrown away three outlined chapters to different stories, including this one. If you’re not already following me on Twitter (shannyfish) and/or Tumblr (shannyfishwriter), then please do that. I usually post updates and info about what I’m working on, as well as sneak peeks. You can always poke me through both accounts to see what’s up if I’ve gone silent, even if it’s just on a particular story front ;)

**Outside of Palmer Technologies**

 

“Are we sure about this?”

“I think that we’re definitely sure about who’s going inside,” Bruce spoke up.

That was the truth, Felicity thought. The more time she spent with Tony Stark in the Foundry, the more that she understood why he didn’t do a lot of team projects (outside of the Avengers). He was a brilliant scientist, but he was a person who really didn’t do well functioning outside of his element and outside of the bubble of his own ego. That’s where Pepper came into play, she was extremely good at buffering him. If there was some kind of Olympic medal in it, Pepper would achieve gold every time.

“You know, I think I’d be more able to get access,” Tony pointed out.

They were sitting in an SUV and Tony had already tried to assert that he needed to go in since they left Starling City. Luckily, Pepper had overruled him at every point. Pepper and Tony were going to hang out while she and Bruce went in, but if they needed help…then they’d come in. They really weren’t going to be doing anything too crazy.

They’d gotten a list of companies that looked like they might be producing pieces for Trask’s sentinel prototype. Sure, it was early, but it was something that would take YEARS in order to get all of the parts and coding that he needed in order for it to function. They didn’t need to wait…they needed to act before it could get to the point of getting any good lead on things. So, they’d gone to the closest tech company, which was Palmer Technologies.

Though, Pepper going in (or even Tony too) would be a huger pull because of Stark Industries, they’d been too afraid that it might be too much. They didn’t want to intimate or put Doctor Palmer on high alert. So, Felicity coming in to meet with him using the guise of Queen Consolidated and then having a well known scientist, Doctor Bruce Banner, with her would likely be just enough.

They just couldn’t let that future happen.

They had to stop it at all costs.

“Let’s go,” Bruce said as he swung the door open.

It was better, Felicity had learned, to just sort of ignore Tony at times or just act like you hadn’t heard him and do what you needed to do. It was sort of sad, but it was really the best for everyone involved. So, Felicity got out of the vehicle and followed Doctor Banner. They were both dressed appropriately for their positions and for whom they were representing, plus they had an appointment. Felicity just hoped that Ray Palmer was a reasonable man.

“Tony really hates being left behind, doesn’t he?” Felicity asked as she looked back at where the vehicle was parked.

“Tony just doesn’t like not being in charge or everything and everyone,” Bruce said with a smile. “He’ll get over it.” They were both quiet as they moved up the walkway to the building’s entrance. He turned his head to Felicity as they entered the building. “In all truth, I think that video that we found on Coulson’s Bus scared the hell of him,” he said quietly. “He and Pepper were JUST married. I don’t think that Tony’s ever really thought about a FUTURE or FAMILY before the last couple of years…”

“What about you?”

“Yeah, I guess I still haven’t thought much about that,” he admitted and seemed a bit embarrassed by her question. “But for different reasons.”

Because he’d been on the run.

Because of the mutation.

Because of the Hulk.

Everyone had skeletons in their closets, monsters inside of them, but Doctor Bruce Banner had a REAL monster inside of him. Felicity could understand how he had a hard time thinking about a future or having a family. It seemed like he still had a hard time not running. She thought that that had to be hard and a sad life. Of course, she knew that Oliver and Sara had lived a good chunk of their lives doing just that (to a point anyways).

“Right,” she said and then turned to the cheery receptionist.

“May I help you?” the young woman asked.

“I have an appointment with Doctor Palmer,” Felicity informed the woman. “Felicity Smoak with Queen Consolidated.”

It took a few taps to her screen, but the woman looked up at her. “Of course, I have you right here! I am assuming this is a guest?”

“I hope that’s okay,” Felicity said, making sure that it was more of a statement than a question. She’d gone undercover plenty of times, but that was Arrow business. This was different. Sure, she really didn’t HAVE to have back-up, but it was always nice to have it if it was at all possible.

“Doctor Bruce Banner,” Bruce introduced himself.

“It’s your time, Ms. Smoak,” the receptionist commented as she handed her two badges. “You’re going to take the left elevator all the way to the top floor.”

“Thank you,” Felicity told the woman as she handed Bruce a badge and then went to work attaching her own to her dress as they headed for the elevator.

“Well, that was…interesting,” Bruce muttered.

Felicity smiled and pressed the ‘up’ arrow button. “At least she did it as politely as she could.”

“Well, there’s that.”

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“Ah…I feel like you two aren’t here to actually discuss merging companies or working on something together,” Ray said as they stood near his desk. He had been working on something and didn’t seem like a man who was good at sitting when he was worked up and his mind was busy with the gears turning.

“Why would you say that?” Felicity asked. Of course, he was right. They weren’t there to discuss either of those things. She was curious to know how he’d seen through that, though.

“Doctor Bruce Banner isn’t exactly someone on the payroll of Queen Consolidated,” Ray pointed out as he fidgeted with something in his hands.

Felicity let out a sigh. That was a clear blatant reason to not trust them right there. Bruce was still a better ‘wing man’ than Tony. “You’re right,” Felicity said. “The truth is—“

“Are we sure we want to go there?” Bruce asked as he looked to her. Even though Bruce Banner contained the uncontrollable green rage beast inside of him, he was just as fidgety as Ray Palmer was…but Bruce seemed almost like he was extremely anxious. Was it because he was constantly fighting from becoming the Hulk? Felicity couldn’t be sure. Maybe it was just traits that came from being a genius, well…that OR being an egomaniac like Tony Stark.

“Do we really have a choice?”

“We have time?”

“Do we really want to risk it?”

“Sorry, I know that you two don’t seem to mind that you’re talking about me like I’m not here, but WHAT would be at risk?” Ray asked.

They both looked at him. “The future,” Felicity blurted out. “Millions of lives.”

“Uh…wow…”

She watched Ray and waited to see if he looked like he believed them or not. Of course, hearing the whole story and seeing the evidence was something completely different than hearing the story. Felicity let that settle in and when Ray didn’t immediately call for security to remove them, she decided that it was time to take it further. “I’m serious,” she said calmly. “We know that you’ve been tasked by Bolivar Trask to design a piece of technology that will be used in a couple of years to design a prototype for a robot called a Sentinel.”

“A sentinel?” Ray questioned. “I’m just working on a miniaturized propulsion system…”

“You aren’t the only one that Trask has tasked with a piece of the Sentinel project,” Bruce spoke up. “Everything that his company cannot produce or figure out themselves, they’re sending it out.”

“I still don’t think I understand how it’s going to mean the death of millions of people in the future.”

It was something that was honest. How much did they tell him? She’d done a lot of research on Ray Palmer and she knew his history and she felt like she knew that he was a good person overall. She felt like he could be trusted. “The Sentinel program will produce these…robots…that will not only arrest people and throw them in jail because they’re a mutant…or a hero…or aligned with someone that the government wants control over…or they’ll kill them.” She was really quiet for a long time. “A lot of people die. A lot of GOOD people die. A lot of INNOCENT people…and children…die.”

Ray just stared at her for a long time. Finally, he spoke up. “And you have proof of this?” he questioned. It was understandable that he would ask this, but she wasn’t sure that she could give it to him.

“Yes.”

“When does this all happen?”

“If I understand the information correctly,” Felicity said honestly. “About five years, that’s when they start isolating people using the Sentinels. I think it’s about eight or ten years later, they kill over two hundred kids…including mine…and his,” Felicity said as she glanced towards Bruce for a moment. “And then a group, they figured out how to come back…to bring us a message…to stop Trask from destroying the future.”

“Really? That’s what we have to look forward to? Death and destruction?” Ray asked.

“People get scared of what they don’t know,” Bruce said.

Wasn’t that the truth.

“I know who you are, you know,” Ray told Bruce. “Actually…I know who you both are.”

“And you didn’t feel the need to have me removed?” Bruce questioned, his tone made it sound like he’d completely understood if Ray felt the need to.

“You’re quite distinguished in your field, Doctor Banner,” Ray said. “What happened to you, it was an accident…and though from what I understand…you can’t control…the…the ‘big guy’, but you’ve done good in this world…as Bruce Banner and as the Hulk.” He was quiet, but then continued a moment later. “I mean, Felicity Smoak is pretty fierce in her area…so I’m really not sure which one of you I should be more fearful of…if I were to piss you off…which I’m not planning on doing, B.T.W.,” Ray continued to ramble. “But…I’m not sure what you expect from me.”

He was a bit adorable.

Felicity smiled. “How about we join forces?”

“How do you know you can trust me?” Ray asked.

“I have a good feeling about you.”

“That’s it?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

“Isn’t that a bit naive in this day and age?”

“Probably,” Felicity said with a shrug. The truth was, if Ray Palmer betrayed them or she felt like he couldn’t be trusted anymore, it wasn’t like Felicity couldn’t sabotage him…technologically. They could also sick SHIELD on him, which would likely stop him really quick. There was also always the scary threatening visit from a certain green hooded hero.

“So, do I stop working on it?”

“Well, don’t finish it,” Bruce said quickly. “We don’t want it to run properly.”

“You do realize that not actually finishing a project to completion…to PERFECTION…isn’t exactly something I do, right?”

Felicity could understand that. Actually, she was fairly sure that none of them in that room…or Tony or Pepper…were very good about not achieving perfection. “How good are you at keeping secrets?” Felicity questioned seriously as she pondered the options. What did she tell him? What did she show him? What could she reveal? Was she right to trust him?

“Well, obviously not THAT good,” Ray commented honestly. He threw his hands up. “I mean you guys found out I was working on this project for Trask…I didn’t even KNOW the full project, but you guys—“

“We might have had an unfair advantage,” Bruce reminded.

“Maybe.”

“We could use your help, Doctor Palmer,” Felicity said. “If you’re willing to help us.”

“I’m always looking for something to do that will help the world in a way bigger than myself,” Ray admitted.

They just stared at him. “That’s not a normal thing to think,” Bruce pointed out.

“I’m not exactly a normal person.”

“What kind of chip on your shoulder, do you have?”

It was a honest question, but Felicity already knew the answer to it. She frowned and let the question play out. It would give her a good idea further about what kind of a person Ray Palmer was. She had an opinion already formed given his work, what background she’d already read about him, and how he’d acted thus far…but the more she knew about him, the better she could understand things.

Ray’s voice was quiet and full of emotion, she couldn’t look at them, though. “My fiancee, Anna, was killed…”

Slade Wilson.

The Mirakuru soldiers.

Felicity had read all about it and knew that it had to be so difficult to go through something like that and still push forward in the world. To keep a smile on your face and continue what you’re good at rather than hole yourself up somewhere and let the world continue on around you. She supposed that that just spoke to his character and his determination to make things better. The things that Ray Palmer created, they were to help people…or to make the planet better. It wasn’t destructive or dangerous.

“They killed her in front of me. Broke my leg. I was powerless,” Ray tried to get out, but he just finally fell silent.

“That’s—that’s horrible,” Bruce said quietly. “I’m sorry…”

“Anna was the brightest person I had met…and I just felt like I needed to go on…to change the world to how she always saw it could be,” Ray explained.

“Here’s a chance to ensure it,” Felicity said.

“Tell me what I have to do.”

“For now, hold tight…and don’t work on Trask’s project,” Felicity told him.

“You’ve told me all of this and now you just want me to be idle?”

Crap.

“Please, give me something to do,” Ray practically begged. “The future you described…it has to have a lot of other factors beyond Bolivar Trask and his Sentinels…right?”

He was right.

Absolutely right.

The sentinels hadn’t been all that had sent that future to hell. It had been people. Corrupt people. People who had horrible views on things. People who feared and hated people. It was a future that needed to be changed, that needed better leadership, better government, and a brighter vision.

“Yeah,” was all Felicity could get out.

“I have connections.”

“Oh, you’re not the only one,” Felicity commented. “But why not? We’re going to need all the help we can get.” She looked over at Bruce, who didn’t seem to be complaining or arguing over the idea.

Ray seemed to be grabbing things, though Felicity was a bit surprised when Ray didn’t pick up his blazer, but instead grabbed a hoodie and pulled it on. He was loading a whole bunch of tech into his messenger bag a moment later. “You guys have coffee and things with caffeine and stuff, right?”

“We do.”

“Excellent.”

It was so weird because Ray Palmer had just looked like a CEO a moment ago, but now he looked like anyone off the street. The one thing that she wasn’t looking forward to was getting back into the SUV with not only Tony Stark, but Bruce Banner and Ray Palmer. All of their genius might be too much…and then having to deal with Tony poking at every single one of them. It was going to definitely test Pepper’s power of Tony wrangling.

“How are we going to explain this?” Bruce asked her as they headed for the vehicle.

“Explain what?” Ray asked as he looked between the two of them. “You mean, me?”

“It wasn’t exactly the plan to COLLECT you,” Felicity informed him. “It was more like convince you to stop working on Trask’s project or possibly steal the piece.”

“I appreciate the honesty.”

“I hope you really do appreciate honesty,” Felicity said as she opened the SUV’s door. “Because we’re about to be hit by it…whether we want it or not.”

Bruce moved in first, getting to the back, likely to be as far away from Tony as possible. Sighing, she got in and scooted over, this was going to be interesting…and it was really going to test Ray…mainly his patience and sanity.

“Who is this?” Tony asked.

“Doctor Ray Palmer,” Ray introduced as he got in and closed the door, he was super cheery and held out his hand.

“What is this?!” Tony questioned as he looked between her and Bruce. “I don’t even remember what his field is… Is he really THAT good? I mean, I don’t think we NEED him. We have ME after all.”

“Is he for real?” Ray asked as he looked between Felicity and Bruce, obviously he was confused.

“Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move,” Bruce said as he popped up between the middle row of seats in a very exclaimed hushed whisper.

Felicity just smiled and looked between Bruce and Tony. Tony didn’t seem amused, but it was becoming really hard for her NOT to at least let part of her laugh break through. It WAS funny. This was definitely going to be a very interesting drive back to Starling City.

“I’m a little concerned that you’re comparing him to a Tyrannosaurus Rex,” Ray said slowly as he motioned from Bruce to Tony.

“Welcome to the party,” Pepper mumbled just loud enough for them all to hear before she started to move the vehicle.

“Is that movie even scientifically correct?” Tony grumbled from the front passenger seat.

That was enough for nearly everyone except Tony to let out a giggle or chuckle. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a long drive.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 TBC…

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to follow me @shannyfish


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